leech@unc.UUCP (12/05/87)
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I wonder if the net could enlighten me on the subject of hard
disk drives for AT compatibles? I'm planning to purchase an 80386
system soon, probably from Tandy. Their disk prices are absurdly high,
so I've been poking around the trades looking for cheap mass storage.
There appear to be several different types of controllers - ST506(?),
RLL, ESDI. I would like to know what the differences are among the
various models of controllers and what sorts of disks go with what
controllers. In particular, I saw an ad in the current Computer
Shopper offering a ST277R hard disk for $469. This appears to have a
capacity of 65 Mb and AAT of 40 ms; information on this model would
be appreciated, as would general advice on purchasing mass storage.
Please send mail, don't post; I'll summarize if sufficient
interest.
--
Jon Leech (leech@cs.unc.edu) __@/
``Thus Mathematics helps / our brains and hands and feet
and can make / a race of supermen out of us.''
- The Education of T. C. Mitswtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (12/07/87)
<<which disk?>> A general rule of thumb is that faster is better; obviously, the wallet is a mitigating factor. Disk caching programs can make up partially for drive slowness. A cache will slightly slow down througput due to the extra layer of software added, but will dramatically enhance performance for repetatively accessed data. This is good in dbase-like programs. For programs where a datum is only used once, cahcing is not helpful. I have tested Vcache, Lightning, and one from Paul Mace software. Lightning did the best with the least memory. RLL drives will improve throughput somewhat becuase they have a higher data transfer rate. Since the drive still turns the same speed as non-RLL, but has 150% the data, the xfer rate is 150% of normal. The ST-277 sounds good on paper. I don't have one here yet. I do have a lot of ST-238s. While there has been bitching on the Net about '238s ours have all held up so far. I stated installing '238 last January. Look around for deals on the Seagate ST-4051. It is a pretty good full-height 40 meg drive. My personal favorite are the Microscience Miniscribe series. The 72 meg 6085 is quite good. I've seen it for as little as $799. I suppose a weakness of the 6085 is that it has a servo surface on one of the platters, that if messed up, would probably send the drive out to lunch. I haven't seen that happen though. --Bill
john@wa3wbu.UUCP (John Gayman) (12/08/87)
In article <822@neoucom.UUCP>, wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) writes: > > <<which disk?>> > suppose a weakness of the 6085 is that it has a servo surface on > one of the platters, that if messed up, would probably send the > drive out to lunch. I haven't seen that happen though. As far as I know most of the 40-70MB series of fast hard disks use the servo track. I beleive they call it "closed-loop positioning" or something. I beleive several of the Seagates use them as well. It is true that if something happened to it, you'd be in trouble. But I havn't heard of this either. Ive been using a Miniscribe 6085 in this UNIX box which has been on 24 hrs a day for almost a year now. I can speak very favorable of the Miniscribe units. John -- John Gayman, WA3WBU | UUCP: uunet!wa3wbu!john 1869 Valley Rd. | ARPA: wa3wbu!john@uunet.UU.NET Marysville, PA 17053 | Packet: WA3WBU @ AK3P
tony@killer.UUCP (Tony Holden) (12/09/87)
in article <422@wa3wbu.UUCP>, john@wa3wbu.UUCP (John Gayman) says: > > In article <822@neoucom.UUCP>, wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) writes: >> >> <<which disk?>> > > havn't heard of this either. Ive been using a Miniscribe 6085 in this > UNIX box which has been on 24 hrs a day for almost a year now. I can > speak very favorable of the Miniscribe units. I've been using mine since july '86, 24 hrs a day. I can also recommend Fujitus (few-jit-sue), sorry my spelling is wrong but I don't have the drive here. Anyway, this drive has been running since jan'85/24hr with no problems. Sorry about the spelling, try the phonic version of the name. Tony Holden inhp4!killer!tony
berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu (12/12/87)
Nothing wrong with embedded servo drives: Some disk controllers can't
handle them properly, and you'd better be awfully sure not to use a
'scope probe on the head for the control surface. It doesn't take
much current to erase the track marks!
Mike Berger
Center for Advanced Study
University of Illinois
berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu
{ihnp4 | convex | pur-ee}!uiucuxc!clio!berger