dpd00609@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (07/29/89)
Has anyone besides me noticed that it is EASY to insert the floptical upside down? Sure it spits it back out the first time, but the second time you push it in it happily accepts it and hangs the cUbe. Where were the mechanical engineers when this thing was designed? Or is this a subtle hint that later versions may allow media that IS reversible? I predict a brisk market for the first guy that markets bright orange stickers that say, "OTHER SIDE UP, DUMMY!" David Doudna, somewhat embarassed system administrator, SoftMed dpd00609@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
epsilon@wet.UUCP (Eric P. Scott) (07/31/89)
In article <246300027@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> dpd00609@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu writes: >Has anyone besides me noticed that it is EASY to insert the floptical upside >down? When we got our first two cubes, one of the 0.8 disks had its labels "reversed" so you had to "stick it in upside down." If you look carefully at the cartridge itself, you'll see that it IS labeled. Since netboot worked fine in 0.9 (with a little kernel poking, but that's another story), we don't have much use for flopticals other than backup, and even that's questionable... it's not hard to back up over the network to a SCSI tape drive on an existing Sun. Flopticals are small and expensive compared to tape cartridges, and the "data fade" questions haven't been adequately answered. -=EPS=- / SFSU
dcarpent@sjuvax.UUCP (D. Carpenter) (07/31/89)
In article <348@wet.UUCP> epsilon@wet.UUCP (Eric P. Scott) writes: >Flopticals are small and expensive compared to >tape cartridges, and the "data fade" questions haven't been >adequately answered. Someone mentioned this alleged problem of "data fade" some while ago and no one ever responded. This strikes me as a fairly serious question. Is there any reliable information as to whether or not this is a genuine problem (or is it merely a rumor, like the one about deteriorating compact discs about a year back)? =============================================================== David Carpenter dcarpent@sjuvax.UUCP St. Joseph's University dcarpent%sjuvax.sju.edu@relay.cs.net Philadelphia, PA 19131 ST_JOSEPH@HVRFORD.BITNET -- =============================================================== David Carpenter dcarpent@sjuvax.UUCP St. Joseph's University dcarpent%sjuvax.sju.edu@relay.cs.net Philadelphia, PA 19131 ST_JOSEPH@HVRFORD.BITNET
dz@lime.ucsb.edu (Daniel James Zerkle) (07/31/89)
In article <246300027@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> dpd00609@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu writes: > >Has anyone besides me noticed that it is EASY to insert the floptical upside >down? At my afternoon job, we have a couple of external optical disks hooked up to a sun 3/50. I can't remember offhand what company sold us the drives, but I'm pretty sure that the drive mechanism was made by Sony, and I know the disks are labeled "Sony." In any case, the drive is only one sided, but the disks are double-sided. That's right, to get to the other side, you have to flip the disk over. The disks are just like those in the NeXT, except both sides the of the disk inside have the cute rainbow patterns. You get 300 megs per side, more like 240 after formatting. Before you get too excited about flippy disks, the drives cost $5K apiece, and the disks run for $250 each! -Dan ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | Dan Zerkle home:(805) 968-4683 morning:961-2434 afternoon:687-0110 | | dz@cornu.ucsb.edu dz%cornu@ucsbuxa.bitnet ...ucbvax!hub!cornu!dz | | Snailmail: 6681 Berkshire Terrace #5, Isla Vista, CA 93117 |
dz@lime.ucsb.edu (Daniel James Zerkle) (08/01/89)
In article <2161@sjuvax.UUCP> dcarpent@sjuvax.UUCP (D. Carpenter) writes: >Someone mentioned this alleged problem of "data fade" some while >ago and no one ever responded. Is there any reliable information >as to whether or not this is a genuine problem. Optical disks are considered one of the most reliable forms of data storage. They tend to hold data unless they are being struck with a laser, so they are not affected by the electrical fields that can degrade data on normal floppies or on normal magnetic tape. You can expect your flopticals to be good for at least a decade, or maybe two. Normal magnetic tape, on the other hand, is only good for two or three years, then you may or may not get data loss. The new metal particle tape is really amazing, though. It doesn't lose data over time, and a $9 cartridge the size of a cassette tape can hold 2 GBytes! | Dan Zerkle home:(805) 968-4683 morning:961-2434 afternoon:687-0110 | | dz@cornu.ucsb.edu dz%cornu@ucsbuxa.bitnet ...ucbvax!hub!cornu!dz | | Snailmail: 6681 Berkshire Terrace #5, Isla Vista, CA 93117 | | Disclaimer: If it's wrong or stupid, pretend I didn't do it. |
croley@walt.cc.utexas.edu (David T. Croley) (08/02/89)
In article <2161@sjuvax.UUCP> dcarpent@sjuvax.UUCP (D. Carpenter) asks: >Someone mentioned this alleged problem of "data fade" some while >ago and no one ever responded. This strikes me as a fairly >serious question. Is there any reliable information as to whether >or not this is a genuine problem (or is it merely a rumor, like >the one about deteriorating compact discs about a year back)? There is no "data fade" problem associated with the magneto-optical disk used in the NeXT. "Data fade" has been a problem with the two other types of optical disks: phase change and dye-polymer. Also there have been problems with limited read/write cycles for dye-polymer systems. The THOR system that Tandy announced very prematurely is based on the dye-polymer method. Most optical drives on the market now are magneto-optical drives. The data on magneto-optical drives is expected to last somewhere around ten years or more. I have heard that this is twice that of conventional magnetic hard drives. This has to do with the way the polarity of individual bits of data are lined up. =============================================================================== David T. Croley The University of Texas at Austin croley@sleepy.cc.utexas.edu croley@(pick a dwarf).cc.utexas.edu "Don't believe everything you read." ===============================================================================