berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu (05/15/87)
There are at least a dozen different ones available. The couple
I've had experience with had National disk controllers (Japanese)
and NEC zero-defect 3.5" hard drives. They draw 15 watts, and
have been completely reliable - one of them is used with a
transportable machine that's moved periodically.
Mike Berger
Center for Advanced Study
University of Illinois
berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu
{ihnp4 | convex | pur-ee}!uiucuxc!clio!bergermjranum@osiris.UUCP (Marcus Ranum) (05/18/87)
Why should anyone want a hardcard ? One slot is used, but some of
them use so mch space that the slot next to them is unusable, too. A regular
hard disk controller can support 2 drives from one slot. More importantly,
it costs a bit less to buy a WD controller and an ST drive than a hardcard.
That way when your ST burns out you still have something you can use... ;-)
The idea of a peripheral slot as fragile and kludgy as a PC's
supporting the weight of even a light drive gives me the willies, too.
You're better off looking into 'regular' drives. They're easier to upgrade,
maintain, and have more long term staying power. In two years, you won't be
able to hook up a new drive to the controller of your hardcard. It'll be
junk. When the price of drives comes down, I'll get another drive or two,
and with a bit of cable swapping, I can backup one drive to my old 10meg
drive. Do that with your hardcard.
--mjr;
--
fnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnord
? - decuac -- osiris!mjranum
\__ gouldsd!mjranummadd@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP (Jim "Jack" Frost) (05/18/87)
In article <1104@osiris.UUCP> mjranum@osiris.UUCP (Marcus Ranum) writes: > Why should anyone want a hardcard ? One slot is used, but some of >them use so mch space that the slot next to them is unusable, too. A regular >hard disk controller can support 2 drives from one slot. More importantly, >it costs a bit less to buy a WD controller and an ST drive than a hardcard. >That way when your ST burns out you still have something you can use... ;-) > > The idea of a peripheral slot as fragile and kludgy as a PC's >supporting the weight of even a light drive gives me the willies, too. >You're better off looking into 'regular' drives. They're easier to upgrade, >maintain, and have more long term staying power. In two years, you won't be >able to hook up a new drive to the controller of your hardcard. It'll be >junk. When the price of drives comes down, I'll get another drive or two, >and with a bit of cable swapping, I can backup one drive to my old 10meg >drive. Do that with your hardcard. Most of your arguments are great. It's true that a separate drive is a better idea, in general, but there may be other considerations. Like: Hardcard style drives usually use less power than a drive controller/drive setup. This is obvious -- you are powering a single device rather than two; there are fewer cables between them to eat up juice (usually negligible, but...); many components need appear only once on a Hardcard, but must be duplicated on the drive controller and drive. The savings can actually add up to quite a bit if the Hardcard was well designed. This makes no difference at all on new XTs and ATs, but if you have an old PC, you have to worry about every watt you are eating up. As for backing up drives, it's just as simple with a hardcard. Or maybe even more so. The hardcards don't have power connections -- you merely plug them in. You could connect one on the outside of a PC by jumpering the slot -- a task done in just a few minutes with a board, some ribbon cable, and a connector. A good hardcard is not flimsy, either. They are supported on three sides, remember -- bolted at the back, inserted in a slot at the bottom, and slid into a slot on the front. The board need only be made on a good circuitboard to be pretty firm. I have never had a card fail because it cracked while in the slot. But then again, I never dropped my PC either. Oh, I'm not saying you should use a hardcard. I'd much rather use a controller/drive combination than an all-in-one, but there may be specific reasons to use one. Keep in mind that not all hardcards are created equal -- there are two or three good ones on the market (they have low power consumption, high reliability, and a thin profile) while there are many many poor ones. Shop around if you really want one. >--mjr; %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Jim Frost * The Madd Hacker | UUCP: ..!harvard!bu-cs!bucsf!madd H H | ARPA: madd@bucsf.bu.edu H-C-C-OH <- heehee +---------+---------------------------------- H H | "We are strangers in a world we never made"
ben@catnip.UUCP (05/28/87)
In article <1104@osiris.UUCP> mjranum@osiris.UUCP (Marcus Ranum) writes: > > Why should anyone want a hardcard ? One slot is used, but some of >them use so mch space that the slot next to them is unusable, too. A regular >hard disk controller can support 2 drives from one slot. More importantly, >it costs a bit less to buy a WD controller and an ST drive than a hardcard. >That way when your ST burns out you still have something you can use... ;-) > > The idea of a peripheral slot as fragile and kludgy as a PC's >supporting the weight of even a light drive gives me the willies, too. >You're better off looking into 'regular' drives. They're easier to upgrade, >maintain, and have more long term staying power. In two years, you won't be >able to hook up a new drive to the controller of your hardcard. It'll be >junk. When the price of drives comes down, I'll get another drive or two, >and with a bit of cable swapping, I can backup one drive to my old 10meg >drive. Do that with your hardcard. I think you are being a little hard on hardcards. To answer your question, 'why should anyone want a hardcard?': - They are much easier to install - They are much easier to move from machine to machine. In fact, several companies with complex software packages send their salesmen out with demo systems loaded on hardcards. - Drive bays are generally at much more of a premium than slots. Using a hardcard you can add a hard disk while retaining (or installing) two floppies. We have dozens of Plus systems 20 meg hardcards in use at Monmouth College. We have yet to have one crash, malfunction, or give us any other problem. This is in sharp contrast to the conventional hard disks we purchased from Qubie, which occasionally fail to spin up when the machine is powered on. For many applications, hardcards are an excellent choice. I also disagree with you assertion that your old disk controller will be desirable in the future. For one thing, many controllers, such as the one in the original IBM XT, will only accept a single drive type (e.g. 10 megs). Even the newer ones will tie you to a particular disk recording technology (usually MFM) and a particular data transfer standard (ST506). With the advent of RLL (1.5 times the MFM capacity), ERLL (double the MFM capacity) and EDSI (faster transfer times), it seems likely that by the time your new hard disk bites the dust, you will want a controller card with new technology too. -- Ben Broder {ihnp4,decvax} !hjuxa!catnip!ben {houxm,clyde}/