cosmos@druhi.ATT.COM (GuestRA) (01/26/88)
We are in need of a large hard disk for use with our Macs (mostly Mac IIs), something on the order of 100 MB or more. Can anyone who has experience with large SCSI drives let me know their opinions? Thanks, Ronald A. Guest ...!ihnp4!druhi!cosmos Supervisor AT&T Laboratories <--- but these are my thoughts, not theirs 12110 N. Pecos St. Denver, Colorado 80234 (303) 538-4896
kwallich@hpsmtc1.HP.COM (Ken Wallich) (01/30/88)
>We are in need of a large hard disk for use with our Macs (mostly Mac IIs), >something on the order of 100 MB or more. Can anyone who has experience >with large SCSI drives let me know their opinions? ---------- I can most highly recommend CDC's Wren line of drives. I have a 160MB WrenIII hooked up to my MacII, and am pleased as punch with it. It is FAST (16.5ms average access time), and is capable of doing data transfers faster than the II can receive (thus you get the maximum throughput possible, with the current SCSI configuration), is reasonably quiet, and is built like a proverbial rock. I also have friends that have had WRENs running on UNIX machines for a long time with no problems whatsoever. There is always a downside, and the problem is that only Jasmine (I think) sells the bigger CDC's, and the last third party review showed them using the WrenII, with a 28+ms access time. This means you have to buy the bare drive, put it in a cabinet you buy separately, and get a public domain SCSI driver for it to use the big fast drives. If your not buying these for your own use, support can be a big issue, as can putting the drives together (CDC will have the WREN V, a half hight (read internal), 180MB drive shipping in a month or so, but I wouldn't hold my breath). I paid just under $2000 for my hard disk, cabinet, connectors, and lots of cable, however, which is a might cheaper per megabyte than a lot of the higher density prepackaged disks. Since the subject of "what is your favorite hard disk" seems to be a religious topic around here, I'm sure you get lots of other folks with direct experience with other big fast drives that are (almost :-) as good as CDC's, but it's lots of fun sorting out the choices! -------------------- Ken Wallich *My views are mine, and mine alone* Consultant "Slimey? Mud Hole? my HOME this is!" DCI kwallich@hpsmtc1.HP.COM @Hewlett Packard ...hplabs!hpsmtc1!kwallich "Why am I soft in the middle, when the rest of my life is so hard? - P.Simon"
fisher@elxsi.UUCP (Chuck Fisher) (02/04/88)
I bought a Jasmine InnerDrive 90 for my Mac II and am very pleased with it. It is a CDC Wren drive with 16.5 ms access time. The retail price is $1495, but ComputerWare in Palo Alto sells it for $1450. Peripheral Land also markets the same drive, but with a higher retail price ($2495). MAC in Berkeley sells it for $1400 which looks like a good deal. I was planning on purchasing the Peripheral Land drive, but got into a time crunch and ended up getting the Jasmine. So far it's been a great drive. Chuck
mdr@reed.UUCP (Mike Rutenberg) (02/04/88)
>>We are in need of a large hard disk for use with our Macs (mostly Mac IIs), >>something on the order of 100 MB or more. >---------- >There is always a downside, and the problem is that only Jasmine (I think) >sells the bigger CDC's Relax Technologies builds large Macintosh drives using the CDC Wren IVs I believe. They are in Union City California and their phone number is (415)471-6112. They currently have a reasonable selection of large capacity drives. They are working on some *huge* machintosh storage options. Mike
clubmac@runx.ips.oz (Macintosh Users Group) (02/08/88)
In article <8194@reed.UUCP> mdr@reed.UUCP (Mike Rutenberg) writes: >>>We are in need of a large hard disk for use with our Macs (mostly Mac IIs), >>>something on the order of 100 MB or more. >>---------- >>There is always a downside, and the problem is that only Jasmine (I think) >>sells the bigger CDC's > >Relax Technologies builds large Macintosh drives using the CDC Wren IVs >I believe. They are in Union City California and their phone number is >(415)471-6112. > >They currently have a reasonable selection of large capacity drives. They >are working on some *huge* machintosh storage options. > If you buy a Relax hard disk, you will be guaranteed a nice room in the Rubber Hotel.. Relax hard disks are bad news. I recommend Rodime, Jasmine or Peripheral Land. Relax should be renamed... Exlax Technologies - Mac hard disks that give you the shits.
hammen@csd4.milw.wisc.edu (Robert Joseph Hammen) (02/20/88)
In article <1364@runx.ips.oz> clubmac@runx.OZ (Macintosh Users Group - Sydney, Australia) writes: >>Relax Technologies builds large Macintosh drives using the CDC Wren IVs >>I believe. They are in Union City California and their phone number is >>(415)471-6112. > >If you buy a Relax hard disk, you will be guaranteed a nice room in the >Rubber Hotel.. Relax hard disks are bad news. I recommend Rodime, Jasmine >or Peripheral Land. I agree. During the summer of '86, a local dealer gave our users group a great price on Relax 20 SCSI drives - $600 (this is at a time when DataFrame 20's were over $1000, and Apple HD20's (non-SCSI) were selling for $1495. I bought one, as did several members of the users group. Within 90 days, I got rid of the drive because the thing scared me - it would hang up, crash, and make rattling noises. A friend of mine went through 3 of them in a year before giving up. Several people had problems with theirs. The drives appeared to be standard Seagate ST-225N's, so I don't know what they were doing wrong. When you value your data, you'll stick to a proven brand. I've had success with Jasmine, CMS, SuperMac, Rodime, Apple, and Peak hard drives. I don't think I'd buy any other drive not listed above. ========================================================================= Robert Hammen Computer Applications hammen@csd4.milw.wisc.edu Delphi: HAMMEN GEnie: R.Hammen CI$: 70701,2104