Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!gatech!ncar!asuvax!hrc!gtephx!covertr
From: covertr@gtephx.UUCP (Richard E. Covert)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: ToadFILE!
Summary: ToadDrives
Message-ID: <449d3ac7.14a1f@gtephx.UUCP>
Date: 24 Jul 89 16:34:26 GMT
References: <8907181719.AA20870@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Organization: AG Communication Systems, Phoenix, Arizona
Lines: 46

In article <8907181719.AA20870@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, chuck@UMBC1.UMBC.EDU ("Chuck Rickard; ", PC) writes:
> 
>      
> >Please report on the ToadFile44.  I was really surprised to see it
> making off their drive when they sell it.  BTW, they are also selling the
> SCSI units by themselves for $699.
> 

	I heard about Toad Computers from some files that Dave@Toad uploaded
to GEnie. One file was a discussion of hard disk drive myths. another was the
price list of their products. I needed to replace a Atari SH204 hd with a
newer,faster, larger drive. TC had the best mail order prices around.

	I ordered my 85 meg drive on Thursday. I was told, since the following 
weekend was the Fourth of July weekend that TC wouldn't be able to ship before
the next Wednesday. TC shipped on Friday, and I received it Tuesday morning.

	What I got was a Seagate 296N (85 meg with builtin SCSI controller),
the ICD Host adapter, an old ICD boot disk, the ICD manual. The drive is in
a shoe box dual drive cabinet and I can add a second drive at any time. I 
d/led the newest ICD software (3.21) from Genie, and reformatted and repartioned
the new drive. I even set it up to auto-boot from the hard drive.

	The 3.21 ICD software included a program to rate the data transfer
rate, and the average track-to-track access time. Here are the times from 
different drives:
	Seagate 65 meg drive      Seagate 85 meg drive
Xfer Rate     323 K/s                  407 K/s
Acc.          34 ms                     28 ms

	So, the new Seagate drives are faster then my older Seagate drives.

	Anyway, the only faults I can find with my new TC drive is that the
ICD software (which came with the ICD Host Adapter anyway) was outdated, and
there was a loose screw on one the connectors in the back. Neither of which
was necessarially TC's fault.

	All in all, I am happy with the quickness of my order with ToadComputers.
I am happy with the drive and the contruction of the cabinet. Everything
looks good.

	Oh one more thing. I ordered the dual drive shoebox cabinet because I
can add the 44 meg removable drive mechanism at any time in the same cabinet.
So, for an extra $699 I can have a backup system as well!!

richard (gtephx!covertr) covert