throoph@jacobs.CS.ORST.EDU (Henry Throop) (07/02/90)
OK, here's a brief summary etc. of MacUser's Feb 90 SCSI hard drive Buyer's Guide. Theoretically all of these should work on the gs, but it might be a good idea to check with the manufacturer first. Then again, when you mention a gs to a lot of Mac companies, you get a "You're using a _what_??" type of response. MacUser looked at 101 hard drives, from 31 companies, with 11 different OEM mechanisms. They rated 18 drives each in: Raw Speed, Real-World Performance, Temperature, and Noise. Different sizes were included in each category, which generally consisted of the two fastest plus one other in each size (20, 30, 40, 60, 80, and 90 MB - they left 100+ MB drives for another comparison). Raw Speed (kilobits/second) === (Speeds measured with Mac program SCSI Evaluator. Note that the absolute maximum of the DMA SCSI card is about 1 MByte/sec, or roughly 8000 MBits/sec. The Mac Plus, on the other hand, is 2100 MBits/sec max!) 20 MB ---------- 4500 IDS Pro 20 4400 Mirror M20 3200 Western Digital Preference 20 30 MB ---------- 4500 GCC UltraDrive 30 4400 MicroNet MS30 4300 Stock SA6000 30 40 MB ---------- 6200 Heart HD 1040 6100 Jasmine DirectDrive 40 5700 MicroTech Nova 40 60 MB ---------- 4500 Crate MacCrate 60 3400 SuperMac DataFrame XP60 2600 Ehman 60 80 MB ---------- 6300 Mac Land Quantum 80 6100 LaCie Cirrus 84 4500 Apple Hard Disk 80SC 90 MB ---------- 6800 MacProducts MagicDrive 91 6500 Deltaic Server 90 3500 Storage Dimensions MacinStor 90 Real-World Performance === (Speed measured with proprietary program running on Mac Plus. All times in min:sec. Of course, less time = faster drive.) 20 MB ----------- 1:45 Western Digital Preference 20 1:50 Mirror M20 2:05 IDS Pro 20 30 MB ----------- 1:10 GCC UltraDrive 30 2:05 Stock SA6000 30 3:15 MicroNet MS30 40 MB ----------- 1:30 MicroTech Nova 40 1:30 Jasmine DirectDrive 40 2:10 Heart HD 1040 60 MB ----------- 1:35 SuperMac DataFrame XP60 2:05 Ehman 60 3:15 Crate MacCrate 60 80 MB ----------- 0:50 LaCie Cirrus 84 1:30 Mac Land Quantum 80 1:35 Apple Hard Disk 80SC 90 MB ----------- 1:35 MacProducts MagicDrive 91 2:15 Storage Dimensions MacInStor 90 2:25 Deltaic Server 90 MacUser Over-All Favorites === (Based on performance, design, ease of use, bundled software, support policies, workmanship, etc. Rated from 0 to 5.) 20 MB ----------- 4 $699 Western Digital Preference 20 4 $447 Mirror M20 3.5 $695 IDS Pro 20 30 MB ----------- 4.5 $629 GCC UltraDrive 30 4 $845 MicroNet MS30 3 $529 Stock SA6000 30 40 MB ----------- 5 $649 MicroTech Nova 40 5 $599 Jasmine DirectDrive 40 4.5 $839 Heard HD 1040 60 MB ----------- 4.5 $1199 SuperMac DataFrame XP60 3 $839 Crate MacCrate 60 3 $579 Ehman 60 80 MB ----------- 4.5 $959 LaCie Cirrus 84 4.5 $1799 Apple Hard Disk 80SC 4 $849 Mac Land Quantum 80 90 MB ----------- 4.5 $1749 Storage Dimensions MacinStor 90 4 $950 MacProducts MagicDrive 91 4 $1595 Deltaic Server 90 The Bottom Line Best ----------- Jasmine DirectDrive 40 Microtech Nova 40 Heart HD 1040 Apple Hard Disk 80SC All data stolen without permission from Feb 1990 MacUser. Mail me or get a copy of the issue for more information on other drives, pros and cons of each drive, and manufacturers' addresses. --- Henry Throop Internet: throoph@jacobs.cs.orst.edu --- Henry Throop Internet: throoph@jacobs.cs.orst.edu