mdh@mitre.org (Mike Houle (version .6 beta)) (09/18/89)
Since there has been a rash of hard disk faileurs in the recent past,
I have a question that must be addressed before I discide to buy a brand new
Mac IIci (if I can afford it :-).. (drool of antisipation) if not a IIcx)
and put my Tired Old Mac Plus to pasture...
Aside from the aspect of Apples Hard Disks are TOO expansive (I
do not want to worry about the cost yet) are they more or less reliable
than the 3rd party Disk makers.
In other words...
If I am going to by a IIc[ix], should I get it with a Apple HD (~40meg)
or should I get it w/o Apple HD and buy a 3rd party internal HD.
I do not want money to be an issue here, I just want to know what is
the most reliable. I have heard it said that the HD is one of the most
important accessories to the computer, and I want to get a good one.
Thanks
Mike
P.S. Please E-mail to me.
Yes, I will summaries the responses
--
Mike Houle |
mdh@linus.mitre.org | 90% of a project is making mistakes
! UUCP -> decvax!linus!mdh | the other 90% is covering up those
! ARPA -> mdh%linus@mitre-bedford | mistakestruesdel@ics.uci.edu (Scott Truesdell) (10/03/89)
There is a high likelyhood that the 3rd party drive you may purchase is manufactured by the same company that the Apple brand drive is; Quantum. These are excellent drives despite recent problems with "sticktion" in high humidity environments. Hopefully the sticktion problem will get ironed out. Buy a Quantum from Apple, you get a 90 day warranty. Buy a Quantum from anybody else, you get a 2 year warranty. This is, unless you are getting a GOOD educationaly discount from Apple. BTW, 40 megabytes is too small for a Mac II. 80 is dead minimum unless you plan to run a bare minimum of applications. As an example, my System Folder has 13MB (some fancy background screens) and my Utilties folder has 17MB. I'm probably atypical in my lust for power, but 80MB is awfully cramped... --scott -- Scott Truesdell
truesdel@ics.uci.edu (Scott Truesdell) (10/05/89)
alex@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us (Alex Pournelle) responded to the following statement by saying that there was actually a high likelyhood that the 3rd party drive would, in fact, NOT be a Quantum: >>There is a high likelyhood that the 3rd party drive you may purchase >>is manufactured by the same company that the Apple brand drive is; >>Quantum. Sorry for the quick statement. I'll qualify it here. 1st, since this is for a IIcx (if I remember correctly), the original querier is limited to 3.5" drives UNLESS he gets a CDC from MicroNet who have fabricated a replacement molding for the drive bracket that replaces the standard Apple bracket and allows for mounting 5.25" mechanisms. 2nd, I presummed (probably wrong) that the querier wants performance and reliablity. Alex, you see more of these things than I do, but, besides the "stiction" problems which appear well on the way to a cure, the little Quantums are the fastest and most reliable 3.5" drives, yes? 3rd, I probably should have worded that statement "...3rd party drive you may CHOOSE or SELECT..." meaning, after he examined the selection of drives out there, he would arrive at the same conclusion I have, and buy Quantum drives exclusively in the 3.5" range. When the CDC Swifts start shipping, I PRESUME they will give the Quantums a good run for the money. >Micro-Net drives are my favorite, by far. They have the best tech. >support and tech. people. And the CDC mechanisms don't break. I agree wholeheartedly. All my AppleShare servers are using CDC Wrens except for 4 SEs used to serve 4 15-Mac Plus Pascal programming networks. These use Quantums. Also, all Mac IIs with drives other than Apple-supplied (higher ed discount makes these hard to pass up) get CDC mechanisms. I find it very easy to cost justify these drives to University purchasers on the following grounds: Reliability means less money in maintenance, reliability means less downtime, made in U.S.A./ good for economy, and, as an aside, they offer the best performance. --scott -- Scott Truesdell