Re: Recover old Sider II drive.. Help?

["Greg Andrzejewski" <pressyourluck85@yahoo.com>]

<chris155@gmail.com> wrote in message 
1156117812.930880.110650@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com">news:1156117812.930880.110650@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>I asked this question about two years ago - got a couple of replies,
> but unfortunately I was not able to act on them in time.
>
> I've got an old Sider II drive that has a lot of old code I wrote that
> I'd like to archive. Unfortunately, I haven't had much luck booting it
> up on my old machine - and I'm sorry to say I really don't remember
> much about the system (or ProDOS) to really make it work.
>
> I've gotten to the point where I can boot with a ProDOS disk, and can
> do a PREFIX /HARD1. That works OK, but once I try to do a CAT or
> something, I get an I/O ERROR.
>
> I do remember that back in the day - the last time I used this drive
> (sometime in 1994), I had to boot with a boot disk, then PREFIX over,
> then start up PROSEL manually to use stuff on the drive - it wouldn't
> boot, but it was readable.
>
> I'm worried now that the drive itself may be "frozen", as it does make
> odd noises (and always did back in the day - for years)..
>
> Is there anyone around who might have the expertise to pull the data
> off this drive (for a fee, I'd expect, naturally.)???
>
> Thanks again..
>
> -CT
>

[Warning shameless plug ahead.....]
I just happen to currently be doing an internship with a data recovery 
company, Gillware Inc. Check out their website at www.gillware.com. The main 
difference between Gillware and most other data recovery companies is that 
Gillware caters to home/small business users rather than large corporations. 
I don't know if we've ever worked on something of that vintage (I think we 
had some MFM drives from an IBM XT come in). We have a class-100 cleanroom, 
so we would be able to make mechanical repairs to the drive, if necessary. I 
have no idea what we'd charge for a job like this, but if you're at all 
interested call our 800 number (actually it's an 877 but who's counting). If 
nothing else, maybe the call will convince my boss to invest in some Apple 
II hardware :-)

Good luck,
Greg

[/shameless plug]