root@qetzal.UUCP (Admin) (02/04/88)
Hi gang. A week or two ago, I posted a query about some CMI 40 and 20 meg drives offered for outrageously low prices through a company called "Hi Tech Asset Recovery" in Canoga Park, California. The drives cost $135 for a 40 meg, and $75 for a 20 meg. Very attractive. I have ordered three of these drives, all of which arrived within three days via UPS second day service. Unfortunately, none of the three drives worked, and the repair facility (APS) mentioned to me that as many as 80% of the drives DO NOT WORK. It costs $50-$60 dollars to repair the servo/electronics and $85-$95 to replace the disk platters which I still consider to be a good deal. I am a little dismayed however, that Hi Tech claimed these drives were taken out of working machines. I dispute that claim. Robert White boulder!qetzal!rcw
ron@topaz.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie) (02/05/88)
Obviously the machines worked fine, people trashed them because the hard disk stopped working. -Ron
pete@wlbr.EATON.COM (Pete Lyall) (02/05/88)
In article <1164@qetzal.UUCP> root@qetzal.UUCP (Admin) writes: >Hi gang. A week or two ago, I posted a query about some CMI >40 and 20 meg drives offered for outrageously low prices through >a company called "Hi Tech Asset Recovery" in Canoga Park, California. >(edited for postnews....) >I have ordered three of these drives ...Unfortunately, none of the >three drives worked .... as many as 80% of the drives DO NOT WORK. I have also had incredibly bad luck with CMI drives coming out of that section of Los Angeles.... I bought 2 CMI 20 meggers (CMI 6426's) from J&B Technologies @ around $200 each... both failed within the week (one was intermittant). In addition, a friend's CMI6640 (30 megger) just ate it as well. It would appear that the current crop of CMI's being offered at bargain prices are not much of a bargain at all. To turn the spotlight onto J&B Technologies for a moment, I also bought an ATASI 37 meg (they say 40) drive from them a few months back. As most of their drives are, it was a refurbished unit (if it doesn't *say* new, it isn't...). It blew its Brains out at the 92 day mark - two days out of warantee. Tough luck, says they. With all of this bad history with these people, I wonder why I was stupid enough to turn a 30 Meg CMI in for repair there? They promise 5 day turnaround - it's been over three weeks, and they've lost the drive twice. I guess what I'm trying to say is a strong 'caveat emptor' here... those prices in the Computer Shopper may look appealing, but..... -- Pete Lyall (OS9 Users Group VP)| DELPHI: OS9UGVP | Eaton Corp.(818)-706-5693 Compuserve: 76703,4230 (OS9 Sysop) OS9 (home): (805)-985-0632 (24hr./1200 baud) Internet: pete@wlbr.eaton.com UUCP: {ihnp4,scgvax,jplgodo,voder}!wlbr!pete
phil@amdcad.AMD.COM (Phil Ngai) (02/05/88)
In article <1179@wlbr.EATON.COM> pete@wlbr.UUCP (0000-Pete Lyall) writes: >In article <1164@qetzal.UUCP> root@qetzal.UUCP (Admin) writes: >>I have ordered three of these drives ...Unfortunately, none of the >>three drives worked .... as many as 80% of the drives DO NOT WORK. > >I have also had incredibly bad luck with CMI drives coming out of that >section of Los Angeles.... I bought 2 CMI 20 meggers (CMI 6426's) from If CMI couldn't ship reliable drives to IBM, what makes you think you'd have better luck? Why mess around with a company with such a bad reputation when there are companies like Fujitsu and CDC? CDC's Wren series, especially, is of outstanding performance, quality, and value. Out of four 182 megabyte drives, three had few defects and one has NO defects. -- I speak for myself, not the company. Phil Ngai, {ucbvax,decwrl,allegra}!amdcad!phil or phil@amd.com
berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu (02/06/88)
Defective CMI 20 meg drives were $ 30 at the last hamfest. The
price you mentioned is high for an a drive with an 80% chance of
being defective.
Mike Berger
Department of Statistics
Science, Technology, and Society
University of Illinois
berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu
{ihnp4 | convex | pur-ee}!uiucuxc!clio!bergerdave@wsccs.UUCP (VAX Headroom @ The End of the Galaxy) (02/10/88)
In article <1164@qetzal.UUCP>, root@qetzal.UUCP (Admin) writes: > > I am a little dismayed however, that Hi Tech claimed these drives > were taken out of working machines. I dispute that claim. > > Robert White > boulder!qetzal!rcw Well, perhaps the drives were taken out of working machines, but why were they taken out? -------- We have just acquired a couple of Fujitsu 2351A/AF MINI-DISK drives. They have a 4-switch dip socket on them that does not seem to be documented. What we need to know is how to specify how many bytes per sector but this information is not given in the fuji manual and the info in the controller manual (System Industries QDA-50) does not match. Does anyone know how to specify the settings? Also if someone could mail be a description of how the SMD interface works I would be grateful. Thanks. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | Dave E Martin | DISCLAIMER: Been Cancelled | | /\ | "...between the streets of | $ opinion/mine/noUinTech | | / \ . /\ | Dallas, and the beaches of |----------------------------| | / \/ \/\/ \ | Miami ... THIS was Max | ...!ihnp4!utah-cs!utah-gr! | | / U i n T e c h \ | Headroom's finest hour." | uplherc!sp7040!obie! | | | --Max Headroom | wsccs!net23.dnet!dave | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
cwwj@ur-tut.UUCP (Clarence Wilkerson) (02/15/88)
here is a reliable repair depot? I paid $300 to CMI ( now out of business) to repair my 6640, and it was down within the year. I wouldn't want to pay much over $100 now, given the value of the drive. .