Time to Back Up!

When's the last time you backed up that computer of yours? A friend once told me, "Disk drives are like tires -- they will fail, sooner or later. The only question, how prepared are you gonna be when that happens?"

This drive offended me. It didn't cost me a lot of work, as I had backups, but it did cost me time. I decided to turn it into a reminder (to it, to others of its kind, and to the ignorant masses who foolishly believe these things will run forever -- if the hardware doesn't get you, the software will).

(Hint - click on an image to see a larger view)

	Step 1 - The offending drive. The washer to its right is from the clock movement and was used to select the proper drill bit. I used a brad-point spur bit to minimize the damage to the case.
	Step 2 - Preparing to mount the clock movement.
	Step 3 - Installing the proper size hole through the offending disk drive.
	Step 4 - Surprise! This was a glass platter drive!
	Step 5 - Mount the movement and the hands. Had to be careful not to jiggle the drive and have the remains of its innards block the hole! It does rattle nice when you shake it, but like the label says, "RATTLE NOISE IS NORMAL" -- well, maybe not this rattle noise...
	Step 6 - Rear view of the mounted clock movement. It ticks nice. Still good for something!

K6RTM June 2005

This page created on a Macintosh using PhotoPage by John A. Vink.