read past dud blocks (on hard disc)?

[Ian Jackson]

Since my post, I watched the second video that Ian pointed to, where
Matt unstick a hard drive by opening it *without* using a clean chamber
and then mechanically unsticking it, with no apparent harm done by the
exposure to room air.

From what he said in the disk repair video, he hadn't yet made the clean
chamber - but was thinking about it.

 

[pjp]

If you take one apart, take the two magnets out and play with them. They
way they act towards one another might surprise you. BTW - they are very
powerfull magnets.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

If you take one apart, take the two magnets out and play with them. They
way they act towards one another might surprise you. BTW - they are very
powerfull magnets.

Can be dangerous...

I'm thinking of the very unusual situation where someone manages to
swallow a very powerful small magnet, and manages with the help of
another similar magnet to perforate part of the digestive tract.

I've heard of this, but not recently, so I don't have any details at
hand - especially the possibly significant one of whether it has ever
actually happened

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Can be dangerous...

I'm thinking of the very unusual situation where someone manages to
swallow a very powerful small magnet, and manages with the help of
another similar magnet to perforate part of the digestive tract.

I've heard of this, but not recently, so I don't have any details at
hand - especially the possibly significant one of whether it has ever
actually happened

Sounds to me like an urban legend. But that's just a guess--I don't
know.

 

[pjp]

Can be dangerous...

I'm thinking of the very unusual situation where someone manages to
swallow a very powerful small magnet, and manages with the help of
another similar magnet to perforate part of the digestive tract.

I've heard of this, but not recently, so I don't have any details at
hand - especially the possibly significant one of whether it has ever
actually happened

That was an issue with those kids toys that were magnetic balls would
form into all kinds of shapes. Kids would swallow them and with a few
going thru tract they would attract each other thru the curves in the
intestine wall hence blocking it. They were recalled I'm sure and taken
off the market.

Same thing in a larger size too big to swallow would be neat but I
suspect expensive, e.g. 1' across balls.

 

[Paul]

Are they also made up of cardboard and duct tape?


As long as you are pumping clean air in. But yes, I agree.

Someone on the news or in a magazine article recently spoke of keeping a
biological isolation chamber under negative pressure and called doing
that "counterintuitive". Oh well.

Ebola, I'd keep that under negative pressure, pulling the
gloves inside the glove box. I wouldn't want any biologicals
blowing out through cracks in the box. And you want your
vacuum cleaner to vent... outdoors.

But for the hard drive, I'd want positive pressure. Especially
as the "glove port" isn't really sealed at all. if you're making
it out of cardboard, might as well be positive pressure, considering
the level of leakage.

Paul

 

[Rodney Pont]

If you take one apart, take the two magnets out and play with them. They
way they act towards one another might surprise you. BTW - they are very
powerfull magnets.

Each of the magnets is actually two magnets side by side. Put the end
of one of them into the middle of the other. I was trying to work out
how they worked with the coil and accidently slid one across the other
and it stuck in the middle explaining everything. You have current
flowing in one direction on one side of the coil and in the other
direction on the other side so the magnetic field has to be reversed
for it to work and I was scratching my head until I discovered the two
magnets

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

I didn't _want_ to either, but it came down to either discarding the
data on the stuck drive or paying a data recovery company (and there
were things on the drive - not least, of course, credit card numbers,
probably - I wouldn't trust a recovery company not to keep copies of).
[]

I might do it, not to fix a drive, but to see the insides for my own
edification. For repair, I'm not that confident either...

It _was_ moderately interesting. (In particular, that the surfaces
appear shiny metal, rather than brown magnetic.)
[]

I like smart people...

Ditto.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"What happens if I press this button?" "I wouldn't ..." (pinggg!) "Oh!" "What
happened?" "A sign lit up, saying `please do not press this button
again'!"(s1f2)

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

Can be dangerous...

I'm thinking of the very unusual situation where someone manages to
swallow a very powerful small magnet, and manages with the help of
another similar magnet to perforate part of the digestive tract.

I've heard of this, but not recently, so I don't have any details at
hand - especially the possibly significant one of whether it has ever
actually happened

ISTR hearing/reading of someone who'd got part of his anatomy (yes, that
part, I think) trapped between two powerful magnets - can't remember if
from HDD, I think they were. The hospital did eventually manage to
separate them. (Are they a shape that would tempt one to ...?)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"What happens if I press this button?" "I wouldn't ..." (pinggg!) "Oh!" "What
happened?" "A sign lit up, saying `please do not press this button
again'!"(s1f2)

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

That was an issue with those kids toys that were magnetic balls would
form into all kinds of shapes. Kids would swallow them and with a few
going thru tract they would attract each other thru the curves in the
intestine wall hence blocking it. They were recalled I'm sure and taken
off the market.

Same thing in a larger size too big to swallow would be neat but I
suspect expensive, e.g. 1' across balls.

Thanks for the clarification. That *is* what I had heard about, but
(obviously) couldn't recall accurately without your help.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

ISTR hearing/reading of someone who'd got part of his anatomy (yes, that
part, I think) trapped between two powerful magnets - can't remember if
from HDD, I think they were. The hospital did eventually manage to
separate them. (Are they a shape that would tempt one to ...?)

I'm glad I read this early in the day, so I have a chance to forget
about before I start dreaming tonight

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I didn't _want_ to either, but it came down to either discarding the
data on the stuck drive or paying a data recovery company (and there
were things on the drive - not least, of course, credit card numbers,
probably - I wouldn't trust a recovery company not to keep copies of).

On the TV news last night was a story about a CHP officer who had
confiscated a woman's cell phone in the process of arresting her, and,
allegedly, later copied and also sent to others some nude photos of her
that were on the phone.

He is now in some trouble (I hope a *lot* of trouble, if the allegations
are true).

BTW, the newscasters were not nice enough to show us some of those
photos :-(

CHP = California Highway Patrol, same as State Police in some states.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Ebola, I'd keep that under negative pressure, pulling the
gloves inside the glove box. I wouldn't want any biologicals
blowing out through cracks in the box. And you want your
vacuum cleaner to vent... outdoors.

Or through a tank of chlorine bleach...

Although ebola, specifically, might not be a problem, if it really can't
be transmitted through the air. If...

But for the hard drive, I'd want positive pressure. Especially
as the "glove port" isn't really sealed at all. if you're making
it out of cardboard, might as well be positive pressure, considering
the level of leakage.

That's why I said "I agree".

Still, Matt's clean room is probably still much better than any room in
my house

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

On the TV news last night was a story about a CHP officer who had
confiscated a woman's cell phone in the process of arresting her, and,
allegedly, later copied and also sent to others some nude photos of her
that were on the phone.

He is now in some trouble (I hope a *lot* of trouble, if the allegations
are true).

BTW, the newscasters were not nice enough to show us some of those
photos :-(

CHP = California Highway Patrol, same as State Police in some states.

From the San Jose Mercury News website:

http://tinyurl.com/ot93bb3