[comp.sys.ibm.pc] Removable MEDIA mass storage alternatives

caromero@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (C. Antonio Romero) (11/29/88)

In article <4588@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> romero@confidence.princeton.edu writes:
>I've been asked to set up some kind of removable mass storage for my
>father's accounting firm.  Their current machine is a Compaq 386.  Each
>of about a dozen (so far) of his business clients needs about 20Meg to
>store some of their monthly records.  I thought that a Bernoulli Box
>would be the ideal answer, but the cost seemed a bit steep... 
>
>Does anyone out there know alternatives to the Bernoulli that offer
>similar capacity, reasonable access times, and the same ease of use?
>
>-Antonio Romero     romero@confidence.princeton.edu


Hi, me again.  I appreciate all the replies people are sending, but no
one has answered the question I tried to ask.  Perhaps I was unclear.

What we are looking for is a disk that can offer the effectively
infinite storage capacity that one gets with a floppy drive (it fills
up, you put in another one) in 20-megabyte chunks.  We need to be able
to get an ARBITRARY (probably AT LEAST 20, maybe more, at the rate
things are growing) number of disks that can be mounted, one at a time, 
in the same drive.  We're looking at removables for CAPACITY, not for
security. The alternatives I've been hearing about are all running at
several hundred dollars per 20 megabyte volume-- basically useless
for our purposes. (I realize a Bernoulli's initial cost probably puts it
in a similar league-- $2K to start + media for each client-- but over
fifteen to twenty clients the price probably catches up pretty
quickly...)

Does anyone out there know of something that can compete with the
Bernoulli on these terms at a lower price? I know the Bernoulli is
a very good product, but Dad's a bit reluctant to spring for one if
there's something better.

Also, could someone out there send me some info on access time and 
media costs for a Bernoulli, and for whatever competing devices you
suggest?

Again, e-mailing replies is probably best.
Thanks again...

-Antonio Romero    romero@confidence.princeton.edu