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To: rupert1 who wrote (43477)1/14/1999 5:31:00 AM
From: rudedog  Read Replies (2) of 97611
 
This stopped when I put the machine on the desk.

It is unlikely that the static actually interfered with the disk operations, more likely it would have interfered with the electronics which communicate with the disk (the controller). There may also have been some other effect operating, since static damage is usually permanent. A common cause of intermittent failures like the one you describe is overheating of the internal electronics due to blockage of airflow into the machine. It may be that the model you had required some minimum clearance below the machine which was blocked when it was on a carpet.

as could my moving the machine without locking the disk
In the timeframe you are discussing, 1987, the disks used in personal computers were considerably less robust than the ones in use today. They were especially sensitive to shock which could cause misalignment of the heads or in severe cases actual contact between the head and the platter's magnetic media. But the result of such abuse would have been a hardware failure of the disk, not 'missing data'.

It sounds to me like the IBM lab tried to recover the data using standard techniques. There are people at IBM who know how to go deeper but that resource is not available to the general customer. In order to recover the data after a 'shredder' program has been used, the disk has to be disassembled and the media analyzed - not a simple process.

Did someone at the University 'have it in' for you? It sounds like this went well beyond routine incompetence. Also, was there no backup in place for your files?
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