garyb@zaphod.UUCP (Gary Berg) (12/31/88)
Has anyone heard about a 600 MB rewritable optical disk drive for the Mac? I heard rumor around town that a local company is introducing one at Macworld but when I called then they didn't have a comment. Their only reaction was 'We will be introducing all new products at Macworld'. I thought that there were only WORM drives on the market. Is this something real new or are there already units on the market? If anyone has any information I would like to know because I have just purchased a Mac and was looking a buying a hard drive but if I can get a removable 600 meg optical disk for a good price I would rather go that way. Thanks Gary (P.S. The company that I talked to was MACsetra International)
glen@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Glen Rosendale) (01/07/89)
In article 28391 (30 Dec 88 17:27:00 GMT) Gary Berg writes: >Has anyone heard about a 600 MB rewritable optical disk drive for the Mac? I >heard rumor around town that a local company is introducing one at Macworld >but when I called then they didn't have a comment. Their only reaction was >'We will be introducing all new products at Macworld'. I thought that there >were only WORM drives on the market. Is this something real new or are there >already units on the market? If anyone has any information I would like to >know because I have just purchased a Mac and was looking a buying a hard >drive but if I can get a removable 600 meg optical disk for a good price I >would rather go that way. >Thanks >Gary >(P.S. The company that I talked to was MACsetra International) On page 77 of the February '89 MacUser there's an ad for the "REO-650", an erasable/removable optical disk drive. The company is: Pinnacle Micro, Inc., 15265 Alton Parkway Irvine, CA 92718 (714) 727-3300 outside CA: (800) 553-7070 This is the first ad I've seen for a Macintosh Magneto-Optic device, but it seems likely that we'll start seeing more in the near future. No price was mentioned, but from what I've seen elsewhere it seems the $4000 range is about what it'll be. It's certainly a new technology, and an interesting one at that, but right now you can get ~80MB of disk storage in the $1000 range, so although the "M/O" device (I used that term when I wrote a research paper on the subject--here's my chance to toss it out and see if it survives in the vernacular) is cheaper per MB it's still pretty pricey. Access time is a lot slower as well. For day-to-day use right now I'd still go with a hard drive (I use a 60MB CMS in my Mac II and have had no problems with it at all in the year I've had it; it cost me $799 and I consider it well worth it). I did see an interesting blurb the other day about a 25MB 3-1/2" floppy for the Mac, of the "floptical" variety (I guess that term still hasn't been settled yet?--i.e. optically tracked magnetic media w/ high density grooves), for about $250 (OEM in quantity). But I've disremembered the source of the rumor--does anybody else know anything about this one? disclaimers: ============ I have no connection with Pinnacle Micro, Inc.; in fact I'd never heard of them before this ad. My opinions are strictly my own, and to look at my record not necessarily that noteworthy anyway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Glen Rosendale | UC Berkeley | glen@cory.berkeley.edu | | ++++++++++++++ | =========== | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
rubinoff@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Robert Rubinoff) (01/08/89)
In article <2817@zaphod.UUCP> garyb@zaphod.UUCP (Gary Berg) writes: >Has anyone heard about a 600 MB rewritable optical disk drive for the Mac? This is probably not the same as what you heard about, but the Feb 89 MacUser has an ad for the REO-650, a 650 MB removable erasable optical disk from Pinnacle Micro. I don't know if it's actually available, but they've got a picture of the drive box and a cartridge, so it's probably not vaporware. Robert Disclaimer: I never heard of the company before, I just saw the ad.
sobiloff@thor.stolaf.edu (Blake N. Sobiloff) (01/08/89)
The only rewriteable optical drives that I am are aware of are: 1) The drive than comes with the NeXT machine, and 2) a 600MB Jasmine that will be intro'd at the Macworld Expo. It has a 50-millisecond ave. seek time; 1.2MB/sec data transfer rate, and a 256K buffer. No price as of yet, and all the Jasmine info was taken from the Jan. 3 MacWEEK. Blake "Hey, where's MY optical drive?" Sobiloff
ephraim@think.COM (Ephraim Vishniac) (01/09/89)
In article <2817@zaphod.UUCP> garyb@zaphod.UUCP (Gary Berg) writes: >Has anyone heard about a 600 MB rewritable optical disk drive for the Mac? I >heard rumor around town that a local company is introducing one at Macworld >but when I called then they didn't have a comment. Their only reaction was >'We will be introducing all new products at Macworld'. A very recent MacWEEK article said that Jasmine (San Francisco) will be announcing one of these at MacWorld. (You didn't say what town you're in, so I'm not sure this fits your idea of "local.") I called my Inside Source at Jasmine and he told me a bit about the drive, but wasn't sure about price or availability. Remember that a product "introduction" doesn't always mean you can take one home with you. Ephraim Vishniac ephraim@think.com Thinking Machines Corporation / 245 First Street / Cambridge, MA 02142-1214 "Arlo Guthrie, it seems, has found what he was looking for: God, and the Macintosh." (Boston Globe)
rkh@mtune.ATT.COM (Robert Halloran) (01/09/89)
In article <7018@netnews.upenn.edu> rubinoff@linc.cis.upenn.edu.UUCP (Robert Rubinoff) writes: >In article <2817@zaphod.UUCP> garyb@zaphod.UUCP (Gary Berg) writes: >>Has anyone heard about a 600 MB rewritable optical disk drive for the Mac? > >This is probably not the same as what you heard about, but the Feb 89 MacUser >has an ad for the REO-650, a 650 MB removable erasable optical disk from >Pinnacle Micro. I don't know if it's actually available, but they've got a >picture of the drive box and a cartridge, so it's probably not vaporware. Maxtor announced a drive about three months ago along this line; 650 Mb using a proposed ISO standard formatting, and a full 1 Gb using a vendor- proprietary format. Access time was given in the 30 ms range, as I recall. They also announced a half-height 3.5" M/O cartridge disk with I believe 150 Mb capacity. OEM cost of the big drive was around $3500, about $1200 on the small one. All this comes from recollection of press releases seen in two or three trade magazines; any or all of the specs may be off. Bob Halloran ========================================================================= UUCP: att!mtune!rkh Internet: rkh@mtune.ATT.COM USPS: 17 Lakeland Dr, Port Monmouth NJ 07758 DDD: 201-495-6621 eve ET Disclaimer: If you think AT&T would have ME as a spokesman, you're crazed. Quote: "In Baton Rouge, the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart, announcing that he has been forgiven by the Lord, returns to his pulpit, where he receives a warm reception from 300 billion locusts." - Dave Barry's 1988 Year-In-Review
srpenndo@uokmax.UUCP (Sean Richard Penndorf) (01/09/89)
In article <35273@think.UUCP> ephraim@think.com (Ephraim Vishniac) writes: =>In article <2817@zaphod.UUCP> garyb@zaphod.UUCP (Gary Berg) writes: =>>Has anyone heard about a 600 MB rewritable optical disk drive for the Mac? I =>>heard rumor around town that a local company is introducing one at Macworld =>>but when I called then they didn't have a comment. Their only reaction was =>>'We will be introducing all new products at Macworld'. => =>A very recent MacWEEK article said that Jasmine (San Francisco) will =>be announcing one of these at MacWorld. (You didn't say what town =>you're in, so I'm not sure this fits your idea of "local.") I called =>my Inside Source at Jasmine and he told me a bit about the drive, but =>wasn't sure about price or availability. Remember that a product =>"introduction" doesn't always mean you can take one home with you. In the February issue of MacUser there is an ad for an Optical-magneto read/write disk in the 700Mb range, without the magazine in front of me, I can't remember the maker. Also, I believe that MacinStor also carries a optical-magneto disk as well. (I could be wrong about that one, since I recall it being large cartridges...but I can check again.) -- Sean 'Longstride' Penndorf !texsun!uokmax!srpenndo . . .----------- GEnie: S.PENNDORF | | `---. srpenndo@uokmax.UUCP `--'LTIMATUM----'OFTWARE
pkahn@meridian.ads.com (Phil Kahn) (01/10/89)
In article <2817@zaphod.UUCP> garyb@zaphod.UUCP (Gary Berg) writes: >Has anyone heard about a 600 MB rewritable optical disk drive for the Mac? A article in this week's MacWEEK has an add by Pinnacle Micro (800-553-7070) for a 650 MB electro-optical SONY drive. Price is $6K for the drive, and $230 for the removeable cartridge. Avg access time is 80 ms, though I was told the inner 128 tracks have 20ms access (so you can partition the drive into two volumes to gain predictable performance speed). Adding NuBUS cache boards they will offer will bring down average access time to 30 or 60ms (depending on cache size). They advertise a driver for both the MacOS and A/UX. This is a SCSI device. I have no experience with the drive other than through the ad and talking with them on the phone. It would be a great service if a buyer would post their experiences with this drive on the net. phil...