ben@tasis.utas.oz (Ben Lian) (04/12/89)
Sorry to post this -- my e-mail to Alexis Rosen bounced a couple of times. Alexis: In article <1531@ccnysci.UUCP> you write: > >[deleted stuff about Wrens] >are coming soon). Many manufacturers sell these drives, such as MicroNet. Sorry to trouble you, but can you tell me if MicroNet sell Wrens in kits or fully assembled + software? Do they cost much? Does MicroNet advertise in the Mac rags? I am seriously considering getting a IIcx, and having a nice fast drive would be nice! >The Rodimes don't even come close. DON'T put one on your server!!! Oh oh.... What's wrong with Rodimes? I have a 140 Plus and if there are real problems with Rodimes then I want something else. They are not the fastest drives around, but my unit hasn't given me any trouble so far apart from serious boot problems with my Mac Plus (but that is due to the fact that my Plus has the original ROMS in it). Incidentally, the Rodime distributors over here in Australia have a ROM upgrade for the 1400RX HD assembly which apparently speeds it up considerably on the Mac II. Any information you can provide will be most welcome. Thanking you, -- bl ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Benjamin Y H Lian ACSnet: ben@tasis.utas.oz Dept. of EE & CS ARPA : ben%tasis.utas.oz.au@uunet.uu.net University of Tasmania BITnet: munnari!tasis.utas.oz!ben@ GPO Box 252C uunet.uu.net (I think) Hobart, Tasmania 7001 UUCP : {enea,hplabs,mcvax,uunet,ukc}! A U S T R A L I A munnari!tasis.utas.oz!ben -----------------------------------------------------------------------
ts@cup.portal.com (Tim W Smith) (04/15/89)
I don't know what Alexis has against Rodime, but I don't like them either. First, some background. The company I work for wrote drivers and the formatter installer program that one of the well known third party Mac drive vendors is using. As part of this, we got to see a lot of drives. We also do a lot of SCSI related stuff not specific to the Mac ( we're very active in SCSI-2 ). This also gets us samples of a lot of SCSI drives. Here's my personal opinion of what drives were good and which were not: GOOD ( stuff I would buy ) Quantum ProDrive ( this is what I have in my Mac II ) Conner CDC Wren SyQuest SQ555 MAYBE, BUT I DIDN'T USE ENOUGH TO REALLY TELL MiniScribe 40 meg Seagate 157N BAD Rodime 70 meg ( blind transfers on the Mac II fail! ) Sony optical ( due to firmware bugs, blind transfers of more than 8 blocks, and non-blind of more than 64 fail. Sony was supposed to have new firmware to fix this. The drive had to go back before I got a chance to see the new firmware, however. If the new firmware fixes these problems, move this up to the maybe list ) Tim Smith
kaufman@polya.Stanford.EDU (Marc T. Kaufman) (04/15/89)
In article <17207@cup.portal.com> ts@cup.portal.com (Tim W Smith) writes: >Here's my personal opinion of what drives were good and which were >not: - BAD - Rodime 70 meg ( blind transfers on the Mac II fail! ) - Sony optical ( due to firmware bugs, blind transfers - of more than 8 blocks, and non-blind of more than - 64 fail. Sony was supposed to have new firmware to - fix this. The drive had to go back before I got a - chance to see the new firmware, however. If the - new firmware fixes these problems, move this up to - the maybe list ) In fairness to the Drive manufacturers, the problem is mostly with Apple's BLIND transfer code (on ALL machines). This problem, the inability to take a delay between bytes, canNOT be solved for machines prior to the SE. It can, and should have, be solved for the SE, II, IIx, etc.,.. machines that have additional hardware support for the transfer. Having said that,-- the drives mentioned still do not work on the Mac. But maybe they would work on a PC, or a SUN, or a .... (i.e. it does not necessarily mean that these are "bad" drives in the sense of losing bits and crashing, when driven by hardware and software that really does SCSI right). Unsubstiantiated rumors exist to indicate that Apple intends to fix the problem "real soon". Marc Kaufman (kaufman@polya.stanford.edu)
wert@toaster.Sun.COM (Robert Scott Comer) (04/18/89)
Of course, this is also just one person's opinion, perhaps with a limitted number of drives (maybe even one) of a certain fixed type. For example, just because the Rodime 70 mb didn't work in his case, doesn't mean that Rodime 140+ drives are bad or won't work, or that a rodime 70 mb drive on an SE with modern System won't work. I have had been involved with the rodime 140+, and had nothing but good come of it. It could handle all manner of blind and unblind transfers from my SE up to 128 blocks at a time. I didn't try more than that, but there is no reason to believe that it wouldn't work. Also, I have had good luck with Seagate st277 and st255. What this fellow is promoting is personal opinions, not researched fact. He didn't like those drives or those manufactures, and he is trying to pass this off as object analysis of those drives or manuf. There are a few people with these drives wondering if they shouldn't trash them: don't be silly. If it works for you, leave it alone. scott out
lauac@mead.qal.berkeley.edu (Alexander Lau) (04/18/89)
In article <99482@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> wert@sun.UUCP (Robert Scott Comer) writes: >I have had been involved with the rodime 140+, and had nothing but good >come of it. It could handle all manner of blind and unblind transfers >from my SE up to 128 blocks at a time. I didn't try more than that, but >there is no reason to believe that it wouldn't work. > >Also, I have had good luck with Seagate st277 and st255. > >What this fellow is promoting is personal opinions, not researched >fact. He didn't like those drives or those manufactures, and he is >trying to pass this off as object analysis of those drives or manuf. > >There are a few people with these drives wondering if they shouldn't trash >them: don't be silly. If it works for you, leave it alone. > >scott out Not just personal opinion, although I know you weren't referring to my post. Rodimes have a generally higher failure rate than other brands. The Jasmine thing really brought it out to light. I'm not saying to trash a drive you already have. I'm saying that people who buy these drives new had better think it over twice. Actually, what you are espousing is anecdotal evidence. That doesn't really help the person who wants an overview of the hard drive situation. Flame away, but e-mail only please. --- Alex UUCP: {att,backbones}!ucbvax!qal.berkeley.edu!lauac INTERNET: lauac%qal.berkeley.edu@ucbvax.berkeley.edu FIDONET: Alex.Lau@bmug.fidonet.org (1:161/444)
alexis@ccnysci.UUCP (Alexis Rosen) (04/23/89)
In article <911@tasis.utas.oz> ben@tasis.utas.oz (Ben Lian) writes: >Sorry to trouble you, but can you tell me if MicroNet sell Wrens in kits >or fully assembled + software? Do they cost much? Does MicroNet advertise >in the Mac rags? I am seriously considering getting a IIcx, and having a >nice fast drive would be nice! They sell mountings and raw drives, but it's cheaper to buy a complete unit. The software is very nice and very unspectacular. MicroNet does advertise in all of the Mac magazines. >>The Rodimes don't even come close. DON'T put one on your server!!! >Oh oh.... What's wrong with Rodimes? I have a 140 Plus and if there are >real problems with Rodimes then I want something else. They are not the >fastest drives around, but my unit hasn't given me any trouble so far >apart from serious boot problems with my Mac Plus (but that is due to the >fact that my Plus has the original ROMS in it). Incidentally, the >Rodime distributors over here in Australia have a ROM upgrade for the >1400RX HD assembly which apparently speeds it up considerably on the >Mac II. What's wrong? Simple: The Rodimes are slow as molasses, especially when used on servers. They have a slow access time, poor-to-middling transfer rates, and long SCSI delays. For personal drives, they're fine. The big problem with Rodime is that they are in severe financial difficulty. Still, don't count them out. Their new 3.5" Cobras seem to be pretty spectacular, and they may save the company. They're certainly fast enough for a file server (still not as fast as the Wren Runner, though). --- Alexis Rosen alexis@ccnysci.{uucp,bitnet} alexis@rascal.ics.utexas.edu (last resort)