streeter@ingr.UUCP (09/24/86)
not believe in the line-eater...] I purchased my Amiga in November 85, at the same time a friend purchased his. I was immediately disturbed by the noise the diskette drives make while moving the heads. Hardware types I know told me the step rate was too slow, and that it would not cause any harm, but no one could tell me how the step rate is established or if it could be changed. My friend had his external drive replaced after a couple of months (not sure how long). The new drive did not make the noise. It also had a different feel to it when inserting and ejecting the diskettes. He has bought several Amigas since then (his company uses them), and all the drives, internal and external, are quiet. I suspect that C-A changed vendors or models on the drives. I do not have any objection to that. What I want to know is, can I do something to make my drives quieter? I think the driver is responsible for the step rate, and that it could be patched, if indeed it is the step rate that causes the noise. If not, and there is another reason why C-A changed hardware, I would certainly like to know. If anyone else has had their machine as long as I have had mine, I would like to know if they have the same drive noise problems. If someone from C= could comment on the noise and/or step rate, I am interested to hear. Guy Streeter ...akgua!ingr!streeter "It's over now, and I'm a little tired." -- Antonius Block
acs@amdahl.UUCP (Tony Sumrall) (10/06/86)
In article <150@ingr.UUCP> streeter@ingr.UUCP writes: > I purchased my Amiga in November 85, at the same time a friend > purchased his. I was immediately disturbed by the noise the > diskette drives make while moving the heads. ... > ... The new drive did not make the noise. It also > had a different feel to it when inserting and ejecting the > diskettes. He has bought several Amigas since then (his company > uses them), and all the drives, internal and external, are quiet. ... > If anyone else has had their machine as long as I have had mine, I > would like to know if they have the same drive noise problems. My drives are considerably noisier than the drives on my friends machines and, I agree, they have a different insert-eject feel to them. My wife thinks that my drives are so noisy that she's sentenced us both to a back room! I got my machine in mid-December. > > Guy Streeter > ...akgua!ingr!streeter -- Tony Sumrall ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,seismo,sun}!amdahl!acs [ Opinions expressed herein are the author's and should not be construed to reflect the views of Amdahl Corp. ]
hadeishi@husc4.harvard.edu (mitsuharu hadeishi) (10/07/86)
In article <3874@amdahl.UUCP> Tony Sumrall writes: >In article <150@ingr.UUCP> streeter@ingr.UUCP writes: >> I purchased my Amiga in November 85, at the same time a friend >> purchased his. I was immediately disturbed by the noise the >> diskette drives make while moving the heads. ... >My drives are considerably noisier than the drives on my friends machines >and, I agree, they have a different insert-eject feel to them. My wife >thinks that my drives are so noisy that she's sentenced us both to a back >room! I got my machine in mid-December. The early drives were NEC, the later drives are Mitsubishi (I think). However, it turns out the NEC drives are somewhat more reliable than the Mitsubishi, based on hearsay evidence (i.e., Electronic Arts people found more head alignment problems and inconsistencies between various Mitsubishi drives than between NEC drives.) In fact some would go so far as saying the Mitsubishi drives were notoriously unreliable (under the very heavy wear-and-tear the drives undergo at EA; i.e., lots of disk ejections and insertions.) Hitachi drives are also quiet, and they are completely compatible with the drives in your Amigas. You can get them for about $100 apiece (without cable or case.) However, the screw holes for the internal and external drives are in different places (even though the drive mechanisms are identical) so I assume a generic 3 1/2" drive may have screw holes in any old place. However, I know people have put Hitachi drives into their Amigas and gotten a LOT quieter operation. I don't know if the Hitachi drives are better or worse than Mitsubishi regarding head alignment and reliability in general. -Mitsu
wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (10/08/86)
Hi, The earlier models of the Amiga used NEC drives, while the newer models that I've seen use a Panasonic drive. There might be other brands used as well. All of the outboard 3.5 inch drives that I've seen so far use the NEC drives. In terms of functionality the NEC drives should be just as nice as the Panasonic (or ALPS models if they use them). In one way, the NEC drives are better since they have a small speed adjuster pot on the bottom side of the drive. A very slight adjustment to the speed and use of "Marauder" will allow you to make back-ups of some of the silly copy-proof software from E/A, etc. I said back-ups, not pirate copies. The speed of the Panasonic drives can not be altered (easily). Bill Bill Mayhew Division of Basic Medical Sciences Northeastern Ohio Universities' College of Med. Rootstown, OH 44272 USA phone: 216-325-2511 (UUCP: wtm@neoucom.UUCP or ....!cbosgd!neoucom!wtm)