malczews@girtab.usc.edu (Frank Malczewski) (11/02/89)
LaCie, as part of its switch to 5-year warranties, is switching over from the Seagate/CDC Imprimis line to HP (600MB) and Maxtor (others). I am somewhat interested in the HP drive (although it is nearly as expensive as LaCie's Imprimis-based drive of the same size). Are the HP drives the equal/better than the Imprimis? Supposedly they are faster; apparently they are probably as reliable (at least HP seems willing to stand behind their product for 5 years -- as is Maxtor, Quantum [I think they said they are still providing Quantums], and whatever others they are supplying these days. So, are the HP drives faster (by faster, I mean not as compared the the Wren Runners, but to Imprimis 600 MB drives)? Are they as good quality-wise? Oh, and by faster, this means throughput (not access time). Opinions, please? Facts would be even better, by the way :) -- -- Frank Malczewski (malczews@girtab.usc.edu)
alexis@panix.UUCP (Alexis Rosen) (11/05/89)
In article <6198@merlin.usc.edu> malczews@girtab.usc.edu (Frank Malczewski) writes: >LaCie, as part of its switch to 5-year warranties, is switching over from the >Seagate/CDC Imprimis line to HP (600MB) and Maxtor (others). I am somewhat >interested in the HP drive (although it is nearly as expensive as LaCie's >Imprimis-based drive of the same size). > >So, are the HP drives faster (by faster, I mean not as compared the the Wren >Runners, but to Imprimis 600 MB drives)? Are they as good quality-wise? >Oh, and by faster, this means throughput (not access time). You did not specify the HP mechanism being used, but I know that HP makes a high capacity drive which spins faster than 3600rpm. (I seem to recall a figure of 4000 or 4100 rpm). If they are using this mechanism, the transfer rate is going to be a bit faster at the head-platter interface, but whether you actually see a performance improvement will depend on the efficiency of HP's controller. The increased rpm also cuts the rotational latency, which will speed things up a little. Don't forget that their drivers will make a big difference, too. In short, the only way you'll find out is by running some benchmarks. Alexis Rosen alexis@panix.uucp