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Data from Columbia disk drives survived the shuttle accident
Yahoo! via AP ^
| 5/9/2008
| BRIAN BERGSTEIN
Posted on 05/10/2008 6:02:08 AM PDT by shove_it
Jon Edwards often manages what appears impossible. He has recovered precious data from computers wrecked in floods and fires and dumped in lakes. Now Edwards may have set a new standard: He found information on a melted disk drive that fell from the sky when space shuttle Columbia disintegrated in 2003.
"When we got it, it was two hunks of metal stuck together. We couldn't even tell it was a hard drive. It was burned and the edges were melted," said Edwards, an engineer at Kroll Ontrack Inc., outside Minneapolis. "It looked pretty bad at first glance, but we always give it a shot."[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: computer; nasa; shuttle; shuttlecolumbia; technology
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Now that's a disk crash!! Go to the source url for full story & photo.
1
posted on
05/10/2008 6:02:09 AM PDT
by
shove_it
To: shove_it
2
posted on
05/10/2008 6:05:33 AM PDT
by
Izzy Dunne
(Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
To: shove_it
The computer was running DOS????????????
What year is this?
3
posted on
05/10/2008 6:05:34 AM PDT
by
Mr. K
(Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help)
To: Mr. K
Even though the crew neglected to “park the disk” ~ amazing.
4
posted on
05/10/2008 6:08:20 AM PDT
by
shove_it
(and have a nice day)
To: shove_it
Ontrack has recovered data from a crashed drive of mine. I knew they were good but this is very impressive. I would guess NASA paid a bit more than the $1300 I coughed up.
5
posted on
05/10/2008 6:09:05 AM PDT
by
jimfree
(Freep and Ye shall find.)
To: shove_it
the 340-megabyte drive was only half full, and the damage happened where data had not yet been written. Edwards attributes that to a lucky twist: The computer was running an ancient operating system, DOS, which does not scatter data all over drives as other approaches do. Good old DOS.
6
posted on
05/10/2008 6:10:14 AM PDT
by
rawhide
To: rawhide
After cleaning the platters with a chemical solution, Edwards used them in a newly built drive. The process two days from start to finish captured 99 percent of the drive's information
7
posted on
05/10/2008 6:11:11 AM PDT
by
rawhide
To: Mr. K
The computer was running DOS????????????I don't know, I would hate to wake up in space one fine morning and see the "blue screen of death" looking at me
8
posted on
05/10/2008 6:15:25 AM PDT
by
Popman
("When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.")
To: Mr. K
Even the latest Windows version, I believe, runs on top of DOS. So, all PCs have DOS on them. Another reason to buy a Mac.
To: shove_it
Also, let that be a lesson to all of you who try to hide porn on your hard drives! You know who you are!
To: Reaganesque
Windows has not run on top of DOS since WinNT i believe (maybe even windows 95, but certainly 98)
11
posted on
05/10/2008 6:24:39 AM PDT
by
Mr. K
(Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help)
To: shove_it
At first glance I thought this was a joke about John Edwards recovering data to sue doctors.
12
posted on
05/10/2008 6:27:54 AM PDT
by
tickmeister
(tickmeister)
To: Reaganesque
The Shuttle still or until recently ran off floppy disks. A tool is a tool. If it does it's assigned task, move your attention, time and money to other things.
Mac's run over DOS too. Apple was just first with the easy user interface applied over DOS. All pc’s run off UNIX. 99% percent of Apple physical parts are common with Windows/Linux machines, and can be used by either/or.
13
posted on
05/10/2008 6:28:02 AM PDT
by
Leisler
To: tickmeister
14
posted on
05/10/2008 6:28:58 AM PDT
by
shove_it
(and have a nice day)
To: rawhide
More credit goes to the drive manufacturer in my opinion than to DOS. On this generation of disk drive, the servo code is embedded in the data allowing the heads to properly track the center of the data track and also identify the beginning and end of the error correction code for each sector. Older drives used a servo surface on one plater which was used as a reference for all the other platters. That would gave been tougher.
15
posted on
05/10/2008 6:30:45 AM PDT
by
babygene
(Never look into the laser with your last good eye...)
To: Reaganesque
Agreed! Think of all those pedoapologists out there!
To: Reaganesque
try to hide porn on your hard drives! Isn't that what floppy disks are for?
17
posted on
05/10/2008 6:39:59 AM PDT
by
ASA Vet
(Do we really want either Huma Abedin or Michelle Obama answering the White House phone at 3 AM?)
To: Mr. K
Win 98 was the last to run on DOS. WinNT, 2000, and XP are a different system. Win Millenium was an attempt to marry DOS with NT, and failed miserably.
Don't confuse command lines, and their commands. Even though NT has many similarities in commands with DOS, they are NOT the same.
WinXP is NT 5.1
18
posted on
05/10/2008 6:41:57 AM PDT
by
nobdysfool
(Taglines are so last year.....)
To: shove_it
"..After cleaning the platters with a chemical solution, Edwards used them in a newly built drive. The process two days from start to finish captured 99 percent of the drive's information..."
So, apparently, the platters were not bent in the crash.
To: ShadowAce
20
posted on
05/10/2008 7:00:57 AM PDT
by
KoRn
(CTHULHU '08 - I won't settle for a lesser evil any longer!)
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