Computer History 1977 SPERRY UNIVAC DEDU Disk Exerciser Diagnostic Unit Magnetic Analyzer Unisys

Computer History: Sperry Univac Drive Exerciser (DEDU). The Woman in Red in red is from a 1977 Information Systems advertisement. This video describes high-tech, portable DEDU diagnostic unit for magnetic disc storage drive testing and maintenance. We explore the insides of this vintage field engineer testing machine. The few of these machines that survived are in the hands of collectors and museums. Run time: just under 4 mins.

Uploaded by the Computer History Archives Project ("CHAP"), dedicated to the sharing of vintage computing technologies.

[vpitool]

I was working for Itel Corp. in Baltimore in 1978 who leased these drives to the Social Security Administration. They had 300 of them on several IBM S/360 and 370 system. Spent alot of time aligning heads with a the DEDU and a CE pack. Big fun back in the day.

[richarddavis]

ISS employee #7155 here. This was my first job out of Tech school, I was 19 when I started. I used one of these in "the pits" which was the name for the Production Test department. They were also used in the 2nd stage test and controller integration. I'm happy to answer any questions, as much as I can remember.

[darnice]

Used it many times when I worked for Sperry Univac. Suit and tie days. 90/30's

[SlyPearTree]

Customer service engineers really dressed classy back then, they had to stop because customers would purposely sabotage their equipment so the engineer would visit.

[frankowalker]

What a gorgeous design. The diagnostic tool is'nt bad either. :)

[prismstudios]

Everything from the past was so big and bulky. Who’d have ever seriously planners for, or even dreamed of full function computers that will fit in your shirt pocket?we call those smartphones ……i was born in 1971, and this was the technology available then. I envy people born in the internet era.it’s hard to explain how NONE of this existed when i was a child. It seems like a fairy tail to say this to a modern elementary school student, but it’s 100% true!

[stuartajc]

I remember using 7330 drives like that in the early 80s, they were branded ITEL though, not ISS. Are they the same?

[phildxyz]

I used disk and tape drive exercisers with Data General peripherals back in the 70's. They always said that the units were fine, but they failed as soon as they were back in service lol. Could be useful for alignment though. You adjusted the 'Cats Eyes' with one of these and an alignment disk. One false move and the heads auto-retracted and tried to take your fingers with them!

[torquemada]

"cost effective" yeah those words meant something different back then.

[Rob]

Ok but can it test and excercise my SATA drives? No? Maybe my IDE or SCSI drives? Or ST-506?

[MiamiMillionaire]

Next to the model, it looks like a washing machine ;-)