biswa@janus.Berkeley.EDU (Biswa Ghosh) (04/21/91)
I received an overwhelming total of 2 replies to my query two weeks ago about buying an external hard drive. Here they are. Many thanks to John (jhi@ocf.berkeley.edu) and Dave Platt for your detailed replies! -Biswa Ghosh ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From jhi@ocf.Berkeley.EDU Wed Apr 3 15:45:47 1991 Subject: Re: Hard drive - Request for info. Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware >(1) What should I buy? I have a quantum now, it's reasonably quiet, and I don't remember which one, but MacUser or MacWorld just did a comparison on hard drives. From what I remember, the lps is the new low-profile drives by Quantum. They are 1/3 height and draw less power. They are also faster than the other Quantum drives. However, it seems that you only notice this speed difference if your computer is an SE/30 or faster. Otherwise, the drive is the same 12ms as the other drives. Find some back issues of the magazines. It was either Feb or later. >(2) Where should I buy (mail order)? So far, APS has been highly recommended, I got an 80mb internal from APS. I think I got this when people were just beginning to notice the company. So far, no problems. I realize now that I took a risk, 'cause the company could have gone under. I would be wary of companies that sell drive for much less then APS. Their profit margin is probably pretty slim, so they may not be around to honor that warranty. Actually, I think Quantum will still honor warranties if the company you bought the drive from is no longer around. I'm not certain, but it's worth checking into. >(3) Formatting software - Have heard great things about SilverLining on I use the software that came with my drive. It does hard partitioning, and I haven't had any problems so far. I've also heard great things about SilverLining. >(4) Should or shouldn't the driver be terminated? Also, since the drive Apple recommends external termination. I prefer switchable termination, which some companies are now using. Internal termination is a pain if you have more than one SCSI device and are trying to track down a termination problem. Also, if you take out the resistors, you may bend them in the process, which means you can't use them if you need them later. External termination is nice, but if you don't need the terminator block, there's a chance you may lose track of it - you may need it at a later time. Hope this helped. - John ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From ntg!dplatt@apple.com Thu Apr 4 13:56:33 1991 Subject: Re: Hard drive - Request for info. Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware In article <41579@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> you write: >Here's my questions: >(1) What should I buy? I have a quantum now, it's reasonably quiet, and >reasonably fast. Are there problems with the current crop that I should >worry about? Are there better values out there? I've heard that there's a quirk in the new Quantum 105 LPS drives (an incompatibility with some formatting software). Quantum drives are "jellybeans" these days... they're a commodity item, with lots of competition... it's a buyer's market. They're probably the best bang-for-the-buck choice at the moment. >Even in the Quantums, there seem to be two types. What's the difference? >One's called pro, the other plus; or one has no special designation, the >other has the suffix 'lps'. In both cases they are 12ms drives, but the latter >costs over $100 more. The standard or "Pro" drives are 3.5" half-height drives... if you're buying an external drive, these are the ones to get. The Pro and LPS indicates that the drives are low-profile (1/3 height) and/or low-power models suitable for internal mounting in the Classic, LC, and si machines. There's no reason to prefer these in an external configuration, as far as I know. >(2) Where should I buy (mail order)? So far, APS has been highly recommended, >but they are not the cheapest (~ $80 higher). Can you tell me other safe >places to buy? ClubMac and Third Wave also have good reputations. I've heard bad things about Hard Drives International. >(3) Formatting software - Have heard great things about SilverLining on >the net. The ads make no mention of formatting software. Is this something >I should worry about? Is it worth buying separately? Will I have problems >if I don't buy formatting software? You'll get formatting software with the drives from any of the above companies. It tends to be adequate, but may lack some of the bells & whistles of SilverLining (i.e. you may not be able to change the size of your disk partitions without backing up, reformatting, and restoring your files). The questions to ask, when you call the vendor, are "Does the software support multiple, true SCSI partitions on a single disk? Is the driver fully reentrant, and thus compatible with System 7's virtual-memory paging capability? Do you provide free updates to your formatter/driver software?" If the answer to any of these is "No", look elsewhere. >(4) Should or shouldn't the driver be terminated? Also, since the drive >will be external, are there additional pieces I should worry about? It should be sold _with_ an external terminator, and _without_ an internal terminator. Ideally, it should have an easily-accessible set of DIP switches, or a rotary switch, with which to set the SCSI ID. -- Dave Platt