The Null Device

All things come to an end: The primary hard disk on my Linux box (a 2Gb Quantum Fireball, from about 1997) had been starting to misbehave, so I decided to replace it before it lives up to its namesake. I picked up a 10Gb disk at the swap meet and swapped that in, copying the file systems to it. Things haven't quite stabilised yet (copying partitions with tar did odd things to some of the partitions, particularly /dev, though that should be fixed soon.

I've had the old disk for a bit over 3 years and it has served me well, but now has reached the end of its life. It's the first hard disk I can remember in recent times wearing out, as opposed to merely outgrowing.

The 10gb disk I bought was the smallest new disk available at the market, dwarfed by 40/70gb units, and was only $165. I can remember some years ago, getting off the bus from Monash at an electronics shop in Clayton and plonking down $500 or so for a shiny new 540Mb Quantum hard disk, and being pleased with the amount of space it would add to my cramped 170Mb system (which was probably a 386SX-16 running Linux 1.0 or so).

(I'm showing my age here, aren't I?)

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