MSJLE@ECNCDC.BITNET (Sarah Jane) (02/06/90)
I once had a Tallgrass 35Meg Harddisk with integral tape unit. It was a total lemon, was slow, and error prone. The tape unit NEVER worked correctly even after a complete rebuild. At one point my unit was sent back to TG (again) and it sat under someone's desk for three months, and when they finally worked on it (didn't fix it, either) they sent it back to the wrong dealer and it sat in THAT store for another month until my dealer tracked it down. I will NEVER buy another Tallgrass product and I suggest you avoid them if you want reliable hardware and reliable service. Oh, I forgot to mention: it wasn't a DOS-standard unit, and the software for driving it was also buggy...at least 4 times the software drivers burped and wiped the entire disk of it's contents, and of course the tape unit then couldn't read the tapes to restore it, either. The point is that TG KNEW about this bug, KNEW I was having problems with it, and didn't tell me they had a new version available until I raised hell with the dealer. I don't trust Tallgrass products any further than I can drop them (from the 2nd story) and unless they've had a radical rework of their product line and support practice I strongly suggest you avoid them. Joi Ellis previously PC Developer, ILS Dept, Signal Technology.
CCLU@UMCVMB.BITNET (Shi-Min Lu) (02/07/90)
In response to the bad experience with Tallgrass: >I once had a Tallgrass 35Meg Harddisk..... >I don't trust Tallgrass products...unless they've had a redical >rework of their product line and support practice... It hurts to know such bad treatment. I have recently face the same task of choosing Tape Backup Systems. After dealing with a few vendors, I had different experience from Joi's. Tallgrass had new tape backup systems and new software. They use Retrosepct, highly recommended in MacUser and MacWorld, as the software for the new models. Most of all, they worked directly with me, not through dealers; and proved to be responsive. I had big trouble working with dealers, especially when the product is not the dealer's major sales item. Hope this shows the other side of the coin. Lu CCLU@UMCVMB Campus Computing University of Missouri-Columbia