Conner/Seagate ST31276A discussion & dissection

In this video I talk about, test, and tear down a Seagate ST31276A, a low-cost hard drive from about 1996.
The audio cuts out in the high-speed sections so don't worry about it. It's not you, it's me; I'm not a great editor.
For entertainment purposes only. Don't try this at home, etc.

[@cdos9186]

I wouldn't say that they were terrible, but they did serve a good position in the market. Being a low-cost entry level drive, they appeared to do quite well in terms of making the drive fairly reliable with the simple tape seal. I have one of these made in Malaysia oddly enough rather than China, and it uses a different spindle cap at the top. Other than that, it looks identical to that one made in China. Mine unfortunately is completely unusable and I believe has shipping damage, but it still does seek fine. They weren't the best drives, but considering the affordable cost when new, they did pretty well.