IBM PS/2 Problems

I decided to work on my IBM PS/2 Model 30 computer over the weekend, and to my surprise I started having problems with the system's 20MB hard drive. I ran DOS 6.22 Scandisk only to find out lots of bad clusters. The hard drive had reach the end of its life. Here are some details about this drive:

• Brand: Kyocera
• Model: KC-20B
• Capacity: 21.4MB
• Access Time: 65 ms
• Rated Voltage: 12v,5v
• Serial Number: KB2089589
• In Operation since: December 1988
• Interface: MFM (Modified Frequency Modulation, yes way before IDE drives)

This is a memorable little drive from a company that has long since exited the business. These days, Kyocera are a major manufacturer of laser printers, but it's a long, long time since they made a hard drive. Still, at least with this particular model Kyocera were obviously successful as a drive manufacturer: KC-20s were quite common in their day and remained around as valuable trade-ins well into the early Nineties.

Like so many early drives, you could recognise the KC-20 by sound alone — something you almost never get with modern drives. The sweet little high-pitched pinging noise the Kyocera's seek mechanism made was unique. In practical terms, the drives themselves were nothing out of the ordinary: reasonably reliable as MFM drives went, a little on the sluggish side, not very different to a half-dozen others of the same vintage. Good bye friend!

More information on MFM technology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_Frequency_Modulation