Re: Repairing corrupted IIgs hardisk?

[Warren Ernst <wernst@gmail.com>]

Michael,

Honestly, I think now is a good time to get away from SCSI.

You didn't say how old that drive you were using it, but it has got to
be more than 5 years of age if it is sufficiently small to be used
effectively on a GS. I repair modern computers for a living (among
other things) and I generally tell clients that drives have an average
lifespan of 5 years - some more, some less. Generally, I don't like
keeping any important data on drives that are any older than 5 years.

Anyway, there are fairly good diagnostic tests out there to tell if
your motherboard and RAM are OK, and it is reasonable to assume that
if RAM or a motherboard pass a test today, they will be OK tomorrow.
The same cannot be true for old hard drives - a drive that passes a
test today could easily die tomorrow.

You're already going through the hassle of restoring a drive from
backups. Why not take this time to go to a compact flash setup
instead? The lack of moving parts in my CF setup makes me sleep
easier, and the ability to do simple backups that don't require a
(possibly faulty) genuine Apple // is a blessing too.

I know there's a waitlist for the next batch of CFFA's, but I believe
the essentially identical (and perhaps slightly superior) Microdrive
is available immediately.

Honestly, this is the way I would go if I were you.

Good luck,
Warr