Shipping of 3.5" disk drives

[buggie@musca.unm.edu (stephen e buggie)]

I recently bought a platinum 3.5" drive on the A2.marketplace.

The seller wrote that it was in perfect condition when shipped but it now 
has mechanical faults:

Flywheel noise

Wont format, wont read/write accurately on some tracks.

MY HYPOTHESIS is that it got damaged machanically in shipment (postal 
priority mail).

NO DISK was inserted during shipment ---- how vital is this???

With 5.25" drives, the r/w head is fixed; the pressure pad moves.
But it would _seem_ that with a 2-sided head arrangement, in the 3.5" 
drive, the clamping is needed to secure the two heads from mechanical 
jiggling.


QUESTION:  How likely is it that the mechanism was damaged in transit by 
the lack of a spacer-disk clamped in place.

QUESTION:  Is this the kind of adjustment that can be fixed by ISR 
repairs in Leander Texas??

Its such a shame ---- the drive is externally perfect and very clean.

Steve Buggie			buggie@unm.edu