joe@dayton.UUCP (Joseph P. Larson) (12/05/89)
I'm shopping for a hard drive for my A500. I know this gets talked about
all the time, but I'm sorry. I want more info. After talking to a couple of
my local Amiga vendors, I collected the following information for 20 Meg
drives:
Whose Price Type Comments
================== =========== =========== =========================
Commodore A590 $650 SCSI/DMA Nice styling
GVP $700 SCSI/DMA Fast drive
Supra $550 SCSI Slower drives, but better
sw more than makes up.
All of these drives allow you to daisy-chain other drives to them. The
supra drive is "probably not DMA -- their 2000's drive isn't". "But supra
has better software that more than makes up for it."
So -- what I'm wondering is this:
1. Is all this information accurate? Especially -- is the supra drive a good
choice? Faster and this much cheaper sounds unlikely.... (I can get their
30 Meg for the price of GVP's 20 meg drive.)
2. Does anyone care to add anything?
3. Does anyone have places to recommend with better prices?
4. Does anyone care to talk me into buying a larger drive, knowing it'll be
longer before I can afford it? (See notes below if you care to comment.)
5. Does anyone suggest yet another drive?
Please reply to me with comments and I'll summarize: it's entirely too easy
to lose responses, and let's try to cut the clutter. Don't be afraid to
offer partial help. "I have the supra drive and think it's great" or "The
supra drive s*cks -- get A590 or GVP" would be just fine.
-Joe
------
Comments on 20 Meg., for those who care.
I can't see how I'd fill 20 Meg. Workbench and selected extras is, at most,
1.5 meg. Manx is another 1.5 Meg. Dmouse, virusx, zoo and a few other little
net goodies might bring all that up to 5 Meg total.
I don't really use any other commercial products at this time. I don't want
a news feed (mail, yes. News no). And my current account at work has less
than 10 Meg on it, which includes a big chunk of data files that I wouldn't
have at home. (Nor would I have most of the rest of it, but it does give
me an idea for how much I tend to collect.)
In other words, sticking to the habits I use now on the Amiga (which products
I use) and on my Unix box at work (keeping it relatively clean), I won't
exceed 20 Meg.
So -- why wouldn't 20 meg be enough?
Now, if I buy 20 Meg and outgrow it, I can daisy-chain another disk.
So -- anyone still care to suggest a larger drive? Do I really need 30 or
40 Meg and just not know it? I'll be able to afford $550 a lot sooner than
$800, given that I have to talk my wife into it, and she's been talking about
stupid things like new drapes for the livingroom.
If I need more, I'll get it. But do I need more? Help...
I know. Someone who thinks I need more -- mail me an ls -l of your disk!
Yeah. Yeah. That's the ticket. Or at least the equivalent of a du or
something..... What are *you* doing that takes up all that space?
Thanks.
-Joe
--
UUCP: rutgers!dayton!joe (Picts 1-13 are DHDSC - Joe Larson/MIS 1060
ATT : (612) 375-3537 now ready.) 700 on the Mall, Mpls, Mn. 55402lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) (12/05/89)
In <6866@dayton.UUCP>, joe@dayton.UUCP (Joseph P. Larson) writes: >I can't see how I'd fill 20 Meg. Workbench and selected extras is, at most, >1.5 meg. Manx is another 1.5 Meg. Dmouse, virusx, zoo and a few other little >net goodies might bring all that up to 5 Meg total. Manx? Well, there's source... lots of it. Sure, you can put it on floppies and load it in when you need it, keeping only one or two 'current' projects on the HD, but that gets old REAL quick. >I don't really use any other commercial products at this time. I don't want >a news feed (mail, yes. News no). And my current account at work has less >than 10 Meg on it, which includes a big chunk of data files that I wouldn't >have at home. (Nor would I have most of the rest of it, but it does give >me an idea for how much I tend to collect.) Data... the 'Compleat Programmer' should not be without online autodocs, man pages, extracts of pertinent articles from Usenet, and so on, for those quick lookups while writing something. >In other words, sticking to the habits I use now on the Amiga (which products >I use) and on my Unix box at work (keeping it relatively clean), I won't >exceed 20 Meg. Those habits are strongly influenced by what you have as an environment now. Influenced by slow access to stuff on floppies, amount you can keep on one floppy, and so on. More and faster disk space means more convenience, more convenience means you can do more with your time and resources. >So -- why wouldn't 20 meg be enough? It _can_ be enough, but you will likely find uses for all 20 of those megs and then some. A hard drive, like expanded memory, makes the Amiga a whole different machine. The 'feel' is different. You will want to do things you would never have bothered with otherwise. >Now, if I buy 20 Meg and outgrow it, I can daisy-chain another disk. Yes.. there is that. Of course it will be external, requiring yet another case, power supply, fan, and so on. >So -- anyone still care to suggest a larger drive? Do I really need 30 or >40 Meg and just not know it? I'll be able to afford $550 a lot sooner than >$800, given that I have to talk my wife into it, and she's been talking about >stupid things like new drapes for the livingroom. 'Need' is a relative word. I don't 'need' a HD or more than 512K, but I sure couldn't be without my expanded system now that I've been exposed to it. 'Desirable' is probably the operative word here. More speed, more memory, more storage.. all are definitely desirable. There's an old saying that you can't be too cool or too rich. You also can't have too much storage or too much speed. >If I need more, I'll get it. But do I need more? Help... I would strongly suggest looking at the extra costs involved to get something larger. Around here, a 20 Meg drive (bare drive, not counting controller), costs about $50-75 (Cdn) less than a 40 megger. That second 20 megs is sure low cost. :-) >I know. Someone who thinks I need more -- mail me an ls -l of your disk! >Yeah. Yeah. That's the ticket. Or at least the equivalent of a du or >something..... What are *you* doing that takes up all that space? I do a lot of programming, as well as a lot of online, real-time help to Compuserve Amigaforum members. The help is on everything from 'Where do I find a program to deARC files?' to some extremely technical questions. In most cases, if I cannot answer the question off the top of my head, I can find it on my system in a matter of seconds... worst case, a matter of minutes. Hey.. it's what I enjoy, and you probbaly won't need 200 megs for what you do. ls -Rl ? I don't think you'd really like to receive a 600K piece of mail. -larry -- " All I ask of my body is that it carry around my head." - Thomas Alva Edison - +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
drues@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu (Michael E. Drues) (12/05/89)
joe@dayton.UUCP (Joseph P. Larson) writes: >I'm shopping for a hard drive for my A500. I know this gets talked about lots deleted. >So -- anyone still care to suggest a larger drive? Do I really need 30 or >40 Meg and just not know it? I'll be able to afford $550 a lot sooner than >$800, given that I have to talk my wife into it, and she's been talking about Well, when I purchased my SCSI hard drive for my A1000, (only talking hard drive now, no controller, box, power supply, etc.), the difference between a 32 Mb Segate drive and 48 Mb Seagte drive was about $30!!! (from Treasure Chest though check Computer Shopper for best price). For that little difference, there was NO contest - buy the bigger drive. >something..... What are *you* doing that takes up all that space? Obviously, you are not a TeXie (or should I say AmigaTeXie ?). With all my style files, HP LJII printer driver, etc., AmigaTeX occupies more than 20 Mb of my 48 Mb hard drive. BTW, it is full now and there is not a game to be found on it!!! I even think now I should have gotten an 85 Mb drive [donations cheerfully accepted 8^) ]. Mike. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Michael Drues | | \X/ Internet: drues@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu | | Bitnet: v2.med@isumvs.bitnet | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+