francis@CIS.OHIO-STATE.EDU (RD Francis) (12/04/90)
I'm just curious about something. Almost everyone in this newsgroup seems to prefer internal hard drives to external ones. Now, I know that the internals are less expensive; however, that's the only reason I can think of why I'd want one. Certainly at work, I wish that I had an external hard drive; after all, I can move that to another machine trivially if my machine dies, while I'm stuck (at least for a while, longer if Pluses are the only ohter machine available) with my hard drive tied to a machine that doesn't work with an internal drive. Even at home, I feel more comfortable knowing that I can trivially hook myself up somewhere else if my Mac Plus ever dies. Aside form cost, why should people use internal hard drives instead of externals? Please respond to the group; I'm just curious, and have posted in an effort to enlighten everyone on the issue, not just myself. I'm not trying to make a decision or anything, just wanted to stir up a discussion. -- R David Francis francis@cis.ohio-state.edu
rsholmes@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Rich Holmes) (12/04/90)
In article <CMM.0.88.660248565.francis@wolfman.cis.ohio-state.edu> francis@CIS.OHIO-STATE.EDU (RD Francis) writes: >dies. Aside form cost, why should people use internal hard drives >instead of externals? I prefer externals too. Your "if the Mac dies..." argument is one reason; the inverse is too: if the HD dies, you don't have to crack the Mac's case and mess around internally; just ship off the drive to be repaired (or shot) and plug a new one into the SCSI port. For a IIsi removing the internal HD may be no big deal... for an SE it's more painful. Also, you can easily disconnect an external HD and boot off a floppy if you're in a situation where you have reasons to worry about a virus infecting the disk. The size of most drives is such that they can sit under a compact Mac without taking up any real estate (and getting the screen closer to eye level too). With modular Macs, the real estate issue can be more of a problem. -- - Rich Holmes rich@suhep.bitnet Syracuse U. Physics Dept. rich@suhep.phy.syr.edu or if you must: rsholmes@rodan.acs.syr.edu "The United States -- Making the World Safe For Monarchy!"
dbarnhar@oiscola.Columbia.NCR.COM (12/05/90)
In article <CMM.0.88.660248565.francis@wolfman.cis.ohio-state.edu> francis@CIS.OHIO-STATE.EDU (RD Francis) writes: >I'm just curious about something. Almost everyone in this newsgroup seems to >prefer internal hard drives to external ones. Now, I know that the internals >are less expensive; however, that's the only reason I can think of why I'd >want one. Certainly at work, I wish that I had an external hard drive; after >all, I can move that to another machine trivially if my machine dies, while >I'm stuck (at least for a while, longer if Pluses are the only ohter machine >available) with my hard drive tied to a machine that doesn't work with >an internal drive. Even at home, I feel more comfortable knowing that >I can trivially hook myself up somewhere else if my Mac Plus ever >dies. Aside form cost, why should people use internal hard drives >instead of externals? > >Please respond to the group; I'm just curious, and have posted in an >effort to enlighten everyone on the issue, not just myself. I'm not >trying to make a decision or anything, just wanted to stir up a >discussion. >-- >R David Francis francis@cis.ohio-state.edu There is at least one other reason besides price that I can think of -- the lack of space on most of our desks. That is a very large motivating factor. Not to mention the fact that, although it is slightly less trivial, most of us who use internal hard drives, would swap the disk with another Macintosh just as we would with an external drive. (With the II class of machines, it is not at all difficult to swap a hard disk drive, and I would prefer external drives with a Plus, SE, or Classic anyway, for the reasons you list above. Taking apart a Plus or SE is not my favorite exercise in fun.) Maybe I don't speak for the entire group, but I'm sure there are quite a few Mac users who feel the same way about this as I do. Dave Barnhart NCR Cooperative Computing Systems Division 3245 Platt Springs Rd. West Columbia, SC 29169 email: uunet!ncrlnk!ncrcae!oiscola!dbarnhar -- Dave Barnhart NCR Cooperative Computing Systems Division 3245 Platt Springs Rd. West Columbia, SC 29169 email: uunet!ncrlnk!ncrcae!oiscola!dbarnhar
wiseman@tellabs.com (Jeff Wiseman) (12/05/90)
In article <CMM.0.88.660248565.francis@wolfman.cis.ohio-state.edu> francis@CIS.OHIO-STATE.EDU (RD Francis) writes: >dies. Aside form cost, why should people use internal hard drives >instead of externals? In the case of the "compact" macs (ie. Plus or SE) they are semi-portable. Being able to just pick up a machine and take it somewhere can be nice. Also, you have less noise since there is only one fan. However. My SE (a dual floppy unit) sits on a home-made desk that is not real solid when it comes to people (specifically children :-) leaning on it. It also has an Imagewriter on it. I worry about the vibrations so it is nice to be able to cable from the mac to my two external drives sitting on a small shelf mounted on the wall. -- Jeff Wiseman: ....uunet!tellab5!wiseman OR wiseman@TELLABS.COM