tra@j.cc.purdue.edu (T.R. Arnold) (08/11/87)
As promised, here is a summary of my findings regarding cheap hard disks on the market. I might also add that I have ordered one of the drives suggested below. I found that the 30meg drive (29ms) from Cutting Edge [reply 3] seemed to be the best buy at $599. I will let everyone know how well it works once I get it (3 week waiting period before shipping; I'm in no hurry!). Thanks to everyone who replied to my question. Yet another fine example of how powerful the network can be!! Below is the original posting and the resulting replies: Original post: ------------- %I am this close || to purchasing a hard disk drive for my Mac Plus. I was %looking for internals, but since the SE came out, everyone has decided that %the Mac Plus can't handle internal drives because of the power supply. %(* Harumph! *) So, I started looking for the cheapest (keyword: cheapest) %hard disk on the market (that would not be DOA and would last). Sound %familiar? I suppose this is normal consumer shopping at its best, eh? % %Anyway, I came upon an ad in MacUser for Microtech Peripherals, Inc. They %have the cheapest 30meg drive -- external SCSI -- I have seen for the %Macintosh. It is a "Nova 30" and sells for $689. My question: Is this %really the cheapest (or "one of...") ?? And, if so, is it a reliable drive? % %They also list as benefits: One Year Warranty, Tech Support (toll free), and %free shipping (UPS ground). Also, a 30day money back guarantee. Is this %too good to be true?, or am I way off base? I wanna jump on the band wagon %and become one of the many proud owners of a hard drive for my Mac!! I would %really like an internal, but as I said companies seem to be staying away from %Mac Plus internals with the intro of the SE. % %I would appreciate any and all replies. I will post a summary if needed. ------------- Reply 1: ------- %I don't know anything about the Microtech Peripherals drive but %we just bought a Jasmine 20 meg drive for our Mac Plus. There was %a three week wait due to heavy demand, but now that we have it I %am very impressed. I was easy to setup and came pre-formatted. It %also had about 10 megs of public domain or shareware programs, %many of which are quite useful. Most are the most current versions. % %The Jasmine came with an excellent typeset manual--no longer is %it a stack of 8 1/2" paper stapled together as some reported here. %The drive is quieter than the Apple HD20SC, although I worry about %operating it on really hot days (there have been several this week) %because it does get fairly hot. It seems well put together, though, %and I am satisfied (so far) that we have a good drive. % %Jasmine offers a thirty day money back guarantee and all that. %One thing that bothered me: my drive arrived a couple of days late, %and when I called to find out the status of my order they were %unable to tell me. They said they would call back but they didn't. %The next day it came so I never had to call back. % %Phillip Todd ------- Reply 2: ------- %I'd seriously recommend looking at Jasmine. I believe their 20-MB drive %is competitive with the price you mentioned; if you can scare up a few %extra $$, they have several larger sizes for not a lot more. They have %a good reputation for quality and standing behind their products. (From %what I've read in this newsgroup over the past year, ALL hard disk %suppliers have some percentage of DOA drives, probably due to shipping %mishaps. Thus the real issue is whether the supplier will replace a %dead drive quickly/without hassle; Jasmine is reputed to do so.) %Jasmine has an excellent manual, and also they ship a rather nice %collection of PD and shareware software on their disks, rather than %just sending you a blank disk like most people. %I have a Jasmine 80MB that I bought a couple months ago; I'm quite %happy with it. Just one complaint: they were overly optimistic %(by about 10 days) in their initially quoted shipping date. This %was probably due to unexpected demand for the 80MB (which is a lovely %drive, at an unbelievable price for the size) but if you need your %drive "tomorrow" you may want to deal with a place that ships from stock. % % tom lane % %ARPA: lane@ZOG.CS.CMU.EDU %UUCP: ...!seismo!zog.cs.cmu.edu!lane %BITNET: lane%zog.cs.cmu.edu@cmuccvma ------- Reply 3: ------- %Cutting Edge (1-800-443-5199) is selling a 30 Mb, 29 ms (fast) drive %with Cable and terminator, convection cooled with automatic head %parking, for $600. % %It is currently compatible with the Mac+, and will soon (~end of August) %be compatible with the SE and MacII. (Other drive makers are also %having trouble using the SE and MacII, so it is probably Apple's %fault.) % %I have an SE, and I intend to get a II in 6 months or so, so I plan %to wait until the drive is ready. In the mean time, if you buy %this drive, give me a yes/no on whether it has problems. (You %know how penguins test the water for leopard seals? they all huddle %on the ice flow and push and shove until one falls off. They then %wait to see if he gets eaten. If he doesn't, then everybody %jumps into the water. The second penguin in is the best off, %because he gets to the fish before they are eaten by anybody %but the first penguin, the first penguin often gets eaten %and the last penguin often gets nothing to eat. I don't %know what this has to do with buying computer hardware, but %it does make for interesting reading, doesn't it :-) % %Even if you don't buy the Cutting Edge product, mail me to tell me %what you do buy. There is no point in us both being eaten by the %same seal. % % % David Palmer % palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu % ...seismo!cit-vax!tybalt!palmer ------- Reply 4: ------- %Faced with the same decision when I decided to buy a hard disk for my %MacPlus, I decided to bite the bullet and take the safest, most conservative %route by buying from Apple, while a friend (in the next office) decided to do %the opposite and buy the cheapest drive around. I bought the Apple HD20 %(non-SC, because at the time SC was rumoured not to work quite right), and %my friend bought the Rodime 20 Meg. The following is a comparison of our %experiences with the two. % %Delivery: Apple Canada (I ordered direct) delivered within two weeks, % pretty good in the university environment. % Rodime took about a month to deliver, partly because they % don't seem to have a decent Canadian distributor. % %Set-up: Both systems set up and ran almost instantly with little % or no user knowledge required. The Rodime comes with a % customized version of the System file that can't be updated % except from Rodime. This means my friend is stuck with System % 3.x until Rodime decides to customize a newer one (and tell him % about it). Naturally, the Apple disk runs with any new % version of the MacPlus System file I can get my hands on. % %Speed: The Apple non-SCSI is slow to boot and slow in the Finder. % In any application, it very rapidly comes up to full speed % using the 256k RAM Cache, after which it is indistiguishable % from instant. The Rodime SCSI is always lightning fast to boot, % in the Finder and in applications with or without the cache on. % It is slightly faster with cache on. % %Reliability: The Apple HD20 drive died horribly about two weeks after I got % it and lost me a full week's work and two more weeks of my Mac % time to get fixed. So much for the safest choice. % The problem was even worse because at the time Apple had not % released HD Backup and so no backup program came with the % drive. Since being repaired, the HD20 has worked reliably for % almost a year. The Rodime has always worked reliably and % comes with its own backup program. Both drives are left on % 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (which I recommend as the most % reliable way to use a hard disk; even if you choose to turn off % your Mac overnight or over weekends, leave the HD on). % Both have survived and recovered unattended from several power % outages protected only by a surge-suppressor power bar (which % I recommend for all Macs anyway; the Mac is more sensitive to % power surges than the hard drives are). % %If I can tell you anything else of use, let me know. % %Jim Cordy %Dept. Computing and Information Science %Queen's University %Kingston Canada ------- (* end of replies *) Tom Arnold -- tra@j.cc.PURDUE.EDU Voice phone: (317) 743-5760