jmidili@hub.cs.jmu.edu (jeff midili) (12/04/90)
Anyone out there own or use a machine that uses the Prestor hard
drive controller card? It's supposed to double the disk space
of a MFM harddrive. I assume it uses a compression algorithm on
the fly, but I really don't know much about it. I need another
drive, but can't really afford one, does anyone have anything
to say about these controllers?
thanks,
Jeff Midili
jmidili@hub.cs.jmu.edu
this is only a test...gargulak@mozart.convex.com (Tom Gargulak) (12/04/90)
In article <1990Dec4.004838.4624@hub.cs.jmu.edu>, jmidili@hub.cs.jmu.edu (jeff midili) writes: > Anyone out there own or use a machine that uses the Prestor hard > drive controller card? It's supposed to double the disk space > of a MFM harddrive. I assume it uses a compression algorithm on > the fly, but I really don't know much about it. I need another > drive, but can't really afford one, does anyone have anything > to say about these controllers? The guy that wrote the book "Build your own 386 and Save a bundle" (or something like that) used this to build his machine. It can't be too bad. I also read a favorable review about it recently but cannot remember where. BTW: you can buy from Prestor direct. -Tom
mlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca (Mark Lord) (12/05/90)
In article <1990Dec4.004838.4624@hub.cs.jmu.edu> jmidili@hub.cs.jmu.edu (jeff midili) writes: <Anyone out there own or use a machine that uses the Prestor hard <drive controller card? It's supposed to double the disk space <of a MFM harddrive. I assume it uses a compression algorithm on <the fly, but I really don't know much about it. I need another <drive, but can't really afford one, does anyone have anything <to say about these controllers? I have one, it works, and it works well. It does NOT use compression. Instead, it simply formats the drive using a different encoding scheme to put 31 sectors on a track instead of the usual 17 sectors. Divide 31 by 17 and you get an 82% storage increase. Simple as that. I use(d) it on a Seagate 251-1, a Miniscribe 3650, and a Priam ???? drive. Lots of cheap storage space. The penalties are: 1) most low-level formatters doe not work, so you HAVE to use the one that comes with it. No big deal, since this is not a frequent need. 2) Speed. The tracks are formatted 3:1 interleave, BUT with 31 sectors per track, so the throughput is more like 1.5:1, or roughly 317KB/sec. -- ___Mark S. Lord__________________________________________ | ..uunet!bnrgate!mlord%bmerh724 | Climb Free Or Die (NH) | | MLORD@BNR.CA Ottawa, Ontario | Personal views only. | |________________________________|________________________|
v334mwv4@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Mark L Rosenberg) (12/28/90)
In article <1990Dec4.004838.4624@hub.cs.jmu.edu>, jmidili@hub.cs.jmu.edu (jeff midili) writes... >Anyone out there own or use a machine that uses the Prestor hard >drive controller card? It's supposed to double the disk space >of a MFM harddrive. I assume it uses a compression algorithm on >the fly, but I really don't know much about it. I need another >drive, but can't really afford one, does anyone have anything >to say about these controllers? > >thanks, > > Jeff Midili > jmidili@hub.cs.jmu.edu > > >this is only a test... Dear Jeff, The places that I have worked at have had virtually no problems with the perstor card. It will double the size of you har drive and also allow you to use hard drive organization programs like Pc Tools compress. Another card that you may want to try is the EXPANZ card. These people claim to triple or more the size of you hard drive. This will probably be my next purchase. Its about $150 but the developers tell that there is a problem with running programs like Pc Tools Compress. Thanks for all the fish Mark
davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) (01/02/91)
In article <53063@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> v334mwv4@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu writes: | The places that I have worked at have had virtually no problems with the | perstor card. It will double the size of you har drive and also allow you | to use hard drive organization programs like Pc Tools compress. | Another card that you may want to try is the EXPANZ card. These people claim | to triple or more the size of you hard drive. This will probably be my next | purchase. Its about $150 but the developers tell that there is a problem | with running programs like Pc Tools Compress. Is the EXPANZ one of those cards which compresses on the fly? Those cards don't work the same way RLL (ARRL, ERRL) cards do. The ?RLL cards fit more data on the disk by increasing the number of available sectors. The compressor cards don't (really) increase the space on the disk, they compress the data so you have less. Not that compression isn't a valid thing to do, but if you use a compressor like lharc you will have data which are hard to compress, and the compressor type controller won't help as much. Compressor type cards also often break disk utilities. Sorry I don't know if EXPANZ is a compressor or some kind of RLL, it just *sounds* like it might be compressing from the things you say about it. -- bill davidsen - davidsen@sixhub.uucp (uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen) sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc and 80386 mailing list "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me