frederit@boulder.Colorado.EDU (FREDERICKS THOMAS M) (07/27/89)
I recently acquired a 10 megabyte hard drive out of a unix-pc. Trouble is that there is a set of dip switches on the back that I don't know what to set to. The drive is a Miniscribe model 3425. If anyone has worked with one of these or has a spec please let me know. Thanks, Tom... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter the point where reality and illusion merge to become one... frederit@spot.Colorado.EDU -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (07/28/89)
Frederit@Boulder.colorado.edu asks about DIP swttings on Miniscribe drives ... Suggest you call Miniscribe in Longmont, CO **ASAP** Last I heard, Miniscribe is in the process of going belly-up; they just filed for Chapter 11 in Federal Bankruptcy Court. Their media (platter) supplier was providing junk for the past several months (per the stories I've heard), and Miniscribe drives are becoming VERY difficult to locate now. I've just tried to get some more 3085 and NO local dealer can get them. I'm now looking at Microscience drives (re: 1/2 height, large capacity). Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]
goer@sophist.uucp (Richard Goerwitz) (07/28/89)
In article <20818@cup.portal.com> thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes: >Last I heard, Miniscribe is in the process of going belly-up. Some substantiation of this assertion would be nice. You say that they filed for Chapter 11 protection in Federal Court. Where did you get this information? This is not a flame. -Richard L. Goerwitz goer@sophist.uchicago.edu rutgers!oddjob!gide!sophist!goer
thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (07/30/89)
The problems regarding Miniscribe were related to me by staff at: US Mach Systems (Fremont, CA) Access Computer Technologies (Santa Clara, CA) and 6 other vendors I called who advertise in COMPUTER CURRENTS and in MICROTIMES; I flagged their ads in the latest issues, so I could cite their names, too, if necessary, but having received the SAME story from so many dealers independently strongly suggests to me the veracity of the assertion Miniscribe is in SERIOUS trouble. Re: US Mach and Access Comp. Tech.: these are vendors from whom I normally buy drives (e.g. Miniscribe 3085) and they've NO reason to lie to me esp. when I'm walking in there with cash in hand ready to buy more drives.
jan@bagend.UUCP (Jan Isley) (07/30/89)
In article <4704@tank.uchicago.edu> goer@sophist.UUCP (Richard Goerwitz) writes: >In article <20818@cup.portal.com> thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes: > >>Last I heard, Miniscribe is in the process of going belly-up. > >Some substantiation of this assertion would be nice. You say that they >filed for Chapter 11 protection in Federal Court. Where did you get this >information? This is not a flame. > I buy disk drives from about 8 different distributors. In the last 3 weeks every distributor that I deal with that carries Miniscribe has told me that Miniscribe is history, ie: no longer accepting orders or filling old ones, and that the supply in warehouses are drying up fast. The 3085 is getting scarce *real* fast. One month ago I had distributors offering me great deals on quantity hundreds of the 3085s, now they cannot fill orders for 5. Jan Isley, follower of Zen, picker of nit jan@bagend | gatech!bagend!jan | (404) 434-1335
thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (07/30/89)
[ previous reply continued; damned PORTAL mail interface ... ] It's not that the drives weren't available over the counter and that I'd have to wait; it's that the drives aren't available PERIOD. They ALL said Miniscribe isn't manufacturing drives anymore. This P.O.'d me royally, as I *need* three 1/2 height, maximum-possible capacity drives with an ST506/412 interface. The Miniscribe 3085 has been satisfying these requirements VERY nicely (and at 22 mS avg access); now I am being forced to use lesser capacity UNLESS I can locate some other mfr's drives. Other people who've also been checking mail order "houses" have informed me that Hard Times (??) (adv. in COMPUTER SHOPPER, which I don't get) is saying the same story. There are three of us looking for 10 drives (the Miniscribe 3085 was the drive of choice) for the past 2 weeks, and none are to be found "all of a sudden." These are the sources and the extent of my knowledge in this matter. Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]
jan@bagend.UUCP (Jan Isley) (07/31/89)
In article <20845@cup.portal.com> thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes: >[ previous reply continued; damned PORTAL mail interface ... ] > >It's not that the drives weren't available over the counter and that I'd >have to wait; it's that the drives aren't available PERIOD. They ALL >said Miniscribe isn't manufacturing drives anymore. As I have previously posted, I get the same story from at least 6 distributors that I regularly do business with. >This P.O.'d me royally, as I *need* three 1/2 height, maximum-possible >capacity drives with an ST506/412 interface. The Miniscribe 3085 has been >satisfying these requirements VERY nicely (and at 22 mS avg access); now I >am being forced to use lesser capacity UNLESS I can locate some other >mfr's drives. I have used Microscience HH1090s in the past. They have 1214 cylinders, 7 heads ... about 75k blocks formatted ... almost identical to a ST4096 using all 9 heads. I have one in the machine sitting next to the one I am typing this on ... been up for about 4 months. The problem is, at least 3 out of 10 Microscience HH1090s (and HH1075s (7 heads, 1024 cylinders)) that I have installed in the last year have died dramatically sometime between the first day and about 6 months. The actual number may be closer to 4 out of 10, I would have to check my records. Needless to say, I do not use these drives any more. My distributors swear that I am their only customer that has had problems with these drives. I have 6 drives that I sent off to Microscience 6 weeks ago for warranty work and still no idea when I'll get them back. I have had 0 problems with Microscience HH1050s. 5 heads, 1024 cylinders. But, you are not looking for a 40 MB drive... >There are three of us looking for 10 drives (the Miniscribe 3085 was the >drive of choice) for the past 2 weeks, and none are to be found "all of a >sudden." I do have 3 Miniscribe 3085s in stock at Discovery. You may not like the price though. The boss likes to make a PROFIT. I do not recall what the asking price is. Give me a call and I will see what I can do. Do not ask one of the sales people about this one, they won't have a clue about what you are asking about. I have had a peculiar problem with the 3085. On some machines they have simply refused to work. The drive formats just fine. On the surface test almost every sector will produce an error. Once, changing to a different 2010 worked. The suspect 2010 worked in another machine/drive though. Sometimes changing to a different drive while using the same 2010 worked. Most of the time when I had this problem, nothing would make any combination of drive/2010 work on that machine. The machine would work just fine with any other 1010 and < 1024 cylinder drive combination that I tried. There has been no patern emerge from this yet. The motherboards that have failed to work with a 2010 have ranged from Rev level B to J, with and without the DRUN patch. It simply baffles the hell out of me. Without checking my records, I would say that I have successfully done a 2010/drive upgrade to just over 100 Unix PCs, maybe 10 2MB motherboards, 10 1MB boards, and the rest, 512k boards. I have had problems with 1 2MB board, 2 1MB boards, and about 10 512k boards. I do not recall the numbers of 3085s involved since I have used a lot of the 1090s also. In no cases did I find that the drive itself was faulty. Every drive that exhibited this behavior was installed in a 386 box, formatted and tested successfully and then tried again in the offending Unix PC with a different 2010 first, then maybe used in a different Unix PC with no problem. To date, I have had no 3085 fail at work or with a customer. If you *really* need a big drive, do the P5.1 upgrade. A ST4096 will give you about 75k blocks. Or spend some BIG bucks and get a Maxtor. Bagend is running a ST4096 on a 7300 power supply. I did add a power cable ala 3B1 for the hard disk straight from the power supply. The only expansion slot being used has a full combo board in it. This combination has worked for about a year now, now problems. The ST4096 is rated at 25 watts, I think. I have only 1 fan (remember that flame fest?), blowing out on the power supply side. My brothers machine, slammer is configured identical except he uses 2 fans with the floppy side fan blowing in. He swears that it is the coolest running ST4096 he has ever seen. If you need to fill up all of your slots and you are worried about your power supply, the AT&T repair center in San Leandro (forget the number) will repair/swap a 7300 power supply for $65 as of last month. Add another $20 and you will get a 3B1 power supply (1.5 more amps of 12 volts). Or... for around $50 you can get a PC/AT power supply, around 200 watts. Many of these are just the right size to replace the Unix PC power supply if you take it out of the box and rig up a new wiring harness for the motherboard connector. Jan Isley, follower of Zen, picker of nit jan@bagend | gatech!bagend!jan | home (404) 434-1335 | work (404) 425-5700
jan@bagend.UUCP (Jan Isley) (07/31/89)
In article <806@bagend.UUCP> jan@bagend.UUCP (Jan Isley) writes: >I have used Microscience HH1090s in the past. They have 1214 cylinders, >7 heads ... about 75k blocks formatted ... almost identical to a ST4096 >using all 9 heads. Sorry, that is 1314 cylinders, not 1214. I keep saying that I should not post articles at 3 AM! Jan Isley, follower of Zen, picker of nit jan@bagend | gatech!bagend!jan | home (404) 434-1335 | work (404) 425-5700
mvadh@cbnews.ATT.COM (andrew.d.hay) (07/31/89)
In article <20845@cup.portal.com> thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes:
[]
"There are three of us looking for 10 drives (the Miniscribe 3085 was the
"drive of choice) for the past 2 weeks, and none are to be found "all of a
"sudden."
have you looked into the fujitsu 2243T?
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