The ST9145AG is yet another fairly stunning 2.5″ drive from the early 90’s, where design & looks were a big thing compared to how it is with drives today. Compared to some of Seagate’s older drives, the ST9145AG features glass platters, making them simply another company to join the trend by 1993/1994.
Drive Attributes ------------------------------------- Seagate ST9145AG ------------------------------------- Capacity 145MB (unformatted) Mfc Date 1994-03 (week 12) Format 2.5" Height 19mm Interface PATA Platters 2 Heads 4 Cache 32KB RPM 3449 CHS 980/15/17 Origin Singapore (ST) -------------------------------------
128MB of formatted capacity is available from only two-platters. This is certainly a density improvement compared to the old ST9144A!
Seagate had quite a nicely packed board on these drives, more to be seen on the other side below.
The base of the drive has a surprisingly bright sticker on it, but aside from that is pretty blank. The spindle motor & head-stack connections are put together onto one connector, which is nice for disassembly.
The underside of this PCB is supremely packed with IC’s, as one may expect for such an old 2.5″ drive. The interface adapter is provided by Adaptec, which is fairly commonplace with other manufacturers within the same period for this form factor.
There’s nothing particularly surprising about any of the IC’s shown above, but the layout is quite nice as a whole.
Of course, the rear of the board as seen above isn’t a pushover either. While it contains a lot of passive components, it isn’t left out with logic either.
Personally, the old Seagate logo being placed on the board alongside all other traces is quite a nice addition.
Seagate were certainly quite a player in the 2.5″ market at ths time, showing with the rigorous design of this unit, making it another great option for vendors and system builders alike.
Fortunately this unit is still in perfect health, but they are dwindling in numbers in the current day. This model was more affordable than their highest-end option from the time, but 2.5″ drives of this era aren’t particularly the easiest to find in any capacity. It’s a shame.
If you missed the video I made on this drive, you can find it here: