Sounds of the Seagate Technologies ST-351A/X

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Seagate Technologies ST-351A/X
Country of Origin: USA
Introduced: Unknown
Interface: IDE (40 pin)
Capacity: 42MB
Form: 3.5 SL (0.5")
CHS: 904 / 2 / 17
LZN: 65535
WPC: 65535
Track-track: 5.6ms
Linear access: 13.3ms
Random access: 28.1ms
Rotational: 3600RPM
Media: Unknown
Disks: 1
Actuation: Rotary rack and pinion swingarm stepper
Feedback: Embedded servo
Lift/Lock/Park: Park
Brake: Dynamic
Service life: Unknown
Related models: ST-325A/X (20MB), ST-325N (20MB, SCSI-SE), ST-351N (SCSI-SE), ST-352A/X (Unknown)
Failures: Unknown
Settings: aioinc.ddns.net...
My thoughts:
This is Seagate's last stepper drive, and it's a little unusual. This is the only series of drives I'm aware of which uses a rotary rack and pinion design, as opposed to rotary band. This is also one of very few SL stepper drives out there, the only others I'm aware of being in this series and the Daeyoung DX-3120A previously shown on this channel. This 351A/X has a noisy spindle bearing, sadly, but I hope you can hear the actuator over it at times. It makes an odd scratching sound.

[@mima85]

Just some days ago I found this one for about 30 euros including shipping on eBay. For the same price the same seller has a Maxtor 7120AT. They were both in perfect functional condition (no bad sectors) and ahestetically they were in a very good state too, no major scratches, dings or corrosion on them. Knowing the insane prices these hard drives go nowadays on eBay I immediately snagged both of them, it was a no brainer really.

[@TheDiskMaster]

@@mima85 very nice, this one was $15 tested working from an industrial supplier I often buy my drives from

[@mima85]

@@TheDiskMaster It's cool to see that there's still someone selling those things at reasonable prices.

[@TheDiskMaster]

​@@mima85Indeed, it's lucky that I can still get them at all.

[@beanMosheen]

Is that one of the ones with metal strips wrapped around the stepper shaft for the push-pull?

[@TheDiskMaster]

@@beanMosheen huh? No, this is the only swingarm drive I'm aware of which does NOT use a band positioner. This is rack and pinion.

[@Kali_Krause]

I like the chug chug chug chug it makes while it loaded Windows 95

[@thefumigator]

Isn't that the floppy drive?

[@TheDiskMaster]

@@Kali_Krause When did you see Windows 95?

[@TheDiskMaster]

@@thefumigator the floppy drive is active throughout the video, but there's nothing Windows related here

[@thefumigator]

@@TheDiskMaster most likely MS-DOS, at the beginning. It doesn't say windows 95 anywhere, but people who drove windows 95 surely drove the DOS console, and might remember seeing it more than once during windows 95 problematic lifetime... Making them confused. Just a theory. Moreover his description of the sound, makes me think of the floppy, doesn't it?

[@TheDiskMaster]

​@@thefumigatorMS-DOS is running during the entire video. Why would Windows 95 be problematic? Yes, the floppy drive is active throughout the video as both the boot device and the primary storage where all my testing software resides.

[@QuantumDriveEnjoyerQDE]

I think it's 3050rpm drive rather than 3600rpm but I might be wrong.

[@Kali_Krause]

It's listed as 3600 rpm

[@TheDiskMaster]

@@QuantumDriveEnjoyerQDE I don't know. Is there a way to tell for sure?

[@TheDiskMaster]

@@Kali_Krause everything I saw says 3600 yeah

[@arnlol]

TH99 lists it as 3048 rpm so does redhill and the value that speedsys says on mine is close to that. Even their early voice coil units also ran at a "strange" RPM

[@TheDiskMaster]

​@@arnlolInteresting. Maybe I'll have to put some reflective tape on the spindle and point a tachometer at it someday.