Possible causes of a dead disk?

PleaseEatEggs

New member
Jul 8, 2021
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0
1
Hello there! I’ve recently been trying to get my dads old O2 that he used for work running. The hard drive seems to not be recognized, and I bought a new one just in case, but I’d really like to see if there’s something that I can do to see if the old disk works or save it in some way? The disk is a 4GB IBM model DDRS-34560.
This is the message I get when trying to run diagnostics in the menu.

Code:
                    Starting diagnostic program...
                Press Esc to return to the menu.

        Checking for distribution CD-ROM on pci(0)scsi(0)cdrom(4).
dks0d4s8: Drive not ready: Medium not present
dks0d4s8: drive is not ready

        Distribution CD-ROM not found. Booting installed IDE.
Unable to execute pci(0)scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(8)ide: no such device
Unable to execute pci(0)scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(8)sash: no such device
Cannot load pci(0)scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(8)sash -- no such device.

Unable to continue; press <enter> to return to the menu.
Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!
 

flexion

Active member
Sep 23, 2020
196
137
43
Switzerland
just 4 GB? are you sure this was the primary disk with the bootable OS on it?
Have you checked if you can access the disk in fx.64? (boot into the partitioning tool, from the install CD or over the net using booterizer)
 
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PleaseEatEggs

New member
Jul 8, 2021
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Not yet, though I will try to boot from the install CD. It was acting a bit unstable when I tried the first time, but I’ve cleaned the memory now and its a lot more trustworthy, so I shall try that as soon as I can.
 

onre

SYS 64738
Feb 8, 2019
140
88
28
Toijala, Finland
Does it spin up? Some of the old IBMs are notorious for seizing over time. I've managed to revive these by doing a sort of circular yank movement when powering them up - hard to explain - have it on a desk, connected to power, apply power and quickly rotate the disk along the spindle axis. The idea is to use the momentum of the spindle to make it yank slightly, freeing it from seized state so that the little torque of the motor is enough to get it spinning. After a couple of manually assisted powerups they usually start to spin up by themselves.

disclaimers: not for the faint of heart, done improperly complete data loss may occur, do not try this at home, at your own risk
 

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