Used the crap out of those, mostly in SGI workstations, which delivered nearly 100 percent of what the drive could do. Loved those disks, hated the noise!

They did run hot. We used to put them in these little SCSI boxes. Each box had a fan. As long as that fan operated, life was good.

One day, while in the server room, we heard the death whine! A Cheetah was dying a heat death in its box!

The peeps in there wanted to shut it down, and I said no way! Get the data off of it RIGHT NOW.

And get me dry ice stat!

A copy began as soon as we could mount secondary storage, and it began!

I insulated the drive with a towel and baggie I found, and was about to apply the ice when a cord got bumped!

Bssssssuuuurclunk!

Shit.

This drive needs to spin one more time or we are screwed. Turns out the company data on that drive was important, as in we don't have jobs and why did the backup not work, OH MY GOD, type important!

Got it, check!

I buried the drive in the dry ice, got secondary storage lined up and ready, applied power and nothing.

Shit, shit, oh shit!

Ok, give it 5.5 volts and try again! Nothing. Give it 6! Seven! It whined and moved a little.

Ok, back to 6, and I took the "do not remove" cover off and nudged the platters as the power was applied and it spun up!

Yes! Hell yes!

I slapped the cover back on, tightened just two screws and buried the screaming drive in the ice and time to copy?

FIVE LONG MINUTES

We got the data. That drive almost died twice, and I would pick it up gently, change orientation, until it got quieter, and then just freeze in place, holding it.

Right after I heard, "copy complete', I heard and felt a thunk as the thing tried to leap out of my hand!

It locked solid.

Whew!

Was an intense 5 minutes. And I got kudos for mooching a few more minutes out of what should have been a dead drive.