nathan@orstcs.UUCP (03/14/84)
Re: Are hard disks hard? I will put it this way: Otrona (which makes the wonderful Otrona Attache portable computer Jerry Pournelle is always raving about) has been looking for years for a 5" winnie tough enough to put in their box. Attache is unusual in that the disk mounts are "shock-mounts"; in spite of this, nothing available holds up. On the other hand, Kaypro (which has never made any bones about reliability) offers a transportable with a 10M winnie in it. I have heard horror stories about it. If you absolutely have to have a winchester in a harsh environment, IMI advertises better-than-average shock resistance; at their booth you can see the salesman sit there picking up and dropping one on the table, while the computer connected to it says "I felt that, but I'm ok." The saleman is careful to drop it on only one face, though... (he wasn't until we said "what if we try this?", and found out) Another alternative is the "multi-floppy" solution being pushed by IOMega. I have heard nothing, good or bad, but they do fit 8 Mb in a cartridge. I would expect v. good shock resistance but (due to open-air circulation) not too tolerant of dust. I would expect shipboard machines to have more problems with electrical dirt than with shocks, in any case. Hope that helps. Nathan C. Myers orstcs!nathan nathan.oregon-state@RAND-RELAY
burton@fortune.UUCP (03/27/84)
#R:aplvax:-53900:fortune:28000016:000:699
fortune!burton Mar 26 18:09:00 1984
I can't speak too much about your first point, except that you'd probably
want drives with plated media. (shiny appearance, instead of the
standard media "brown and round" look.)
you shouldn't care about the transfer rate, but only if you can get a
controller that can handle the rate. The drive's transfer rate isn't
determined by what's good for the system, but what's good for the drive.
Actually, floppies, at .25 to .5 Mb/sec are compatible with typical small
system bus transfer rates.
Philip Burton 101 Twin Dolphin Drive
Fortune Systems Redwood City, CA 94065 (415) 595-8444 x 526
- - -
{allegra decvax!decwrl!amd70 cbosgd harpo hpda ihnp4 sri-unix}!fortune!burtonburton@fortune.UUCP (03/30/84)
#R:aplvax:-53900:fortune:28000018:000:315 fortune!burton Mar 29 12:58:00 1984 At an NCC several years ago, I tossed an IOmega cartridge seven feet up into the air. It landed so hard on the concrete floor that the cartridge door popped open. Then the salesman (a friend) put the cartridge back in, and it played! Flawlessly. BTW, IOmega is very dust-tolerant. Unfortunately, its pricey.
jeff@alberta.UUCP (Jeff Sampson) (03/30/84)
Well, if the version of the Compaq with the hard disk is as tough as it's smaller brother, it should be ok. I have seen a standard Compaq dropped from about 5 feet onto a cement floor, and it still worked afterwards. Curt Sampson alberta!jeff "Watch out, Mr. T. Now, from Tuktoyaktuk, it's the eh? team..."
mats@dual.UUCP (Mats Wichmann) (03/31/84)
We have had good experiences with the Quantum 5.25" winnies. They will
run in any orientation. Note how many drive manuals specify only three
acceptable mountings for the drive - horizontal (`bottom' down), and
vertical on either side of the drive. The Quantum has also gone
through extensive testing for a military project which calls for portable
field units which will get tossed around, dumped on the ground, bounced
around in the back of a jeep, etc. As far as I know, it is the ONLY
5.25" winnie to pass this series of tests (including standard drop tests,
etc.). In fact, the major problem with this system is considered to be
finding a terminal rugged enough to withstand the environment it is
intended for, and some sort of backup medium - floppies not being
dirt-resistant enough, and all of the removable-cartridge drives having
had problems.
Mats Wichmann
Dual Systems Corp.
...{ucbvax,amd70,ihnp4,cbosgd,decwrl,fortune}!dual!mats
It now became apparent (despite the lack of library paste)
that something had happened to the vicar; [ Edward Gorey ]smh@mit-eddie.UUCP (Steven M. Haflich) (04/05/84)
Shipboard??? Then there's something much more important than electrical noise and dirt to worry about: wave motion. A spinning Winchester is a very impressive gyroscope. Any rotation of the axis of spin is going to create large side forces on the bearings which they are probably not designed to withstand. Failure could either be immediate, or slow wear to the bearings over time. I would suggest contacting a drive manufacturer for professional evaluation. Steve Haflich MIT Experimental Music Studio