Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!shadooby!gumby!bowden From: bowden@gumby.cc.wmich.edu (Michael L. Bowden) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: Don't buy from HDI Keywords: yet another horror story Message-ID: <902@gumby.cc.wmich.edu> Date: 24 Oct 89 13:11:44 GMT References: <754@dekalb.UUCP> <11040@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> Reply-To: bowden@gumby.cc.wmich.edu (Michael L. Bowden) Organization: Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI Lines: 63 I've posted this info before, but for those that weren't tuned in, here it is again. I too bought a 296N from HDI, having been told that the 4096 had an unacceptable return rate (which drove the cost up to $569 at HDI). If I had purchased the 4096 I wouldn't be getting more than about 230KB/sec. With the 296N I'm getting about 450KB/sec, even with 2:1 interleave, not to mention half the power draw and half of a drive bay free. The Atari newsgroups have been discussing the 296N for some time, and a friend of mine alerted me to the fact that drives with version 7 roms would handle 1:1 interleave, but version 8 roms would not. It turns out that Seagate was having problems getting the drive to work with Macintoshes (pre-SE models), which was where they sold the majority of those drives. Apparently the Macs couldn't handle the data rate at 1:1, so Seagate came up with a new rom to slow down the data rate. Note that a fancy controller board isn't going to make this drive work well at 1:1, though it will certainly improve the situation if it's has cache. I spent a good deal of time on the phone to both HDI and Seagate several months ago, specifically about this issue. You're right, HDI didn't know what Seagate had done...so I told them, and gave them a contact person at Seagate so that they would have it direct from the source. At this point I should say that Seagate said that they would handle this on an individual basis, whereby you ship your drive back to HDI, they would send it to the Seagate repair center, who would replace the rom with a 1:1 capable rom. The turnaround time is a minimum of 2 weeks, and you aren't guaranteed to get the same drive back, so who knows what you'd get? One that's 2 years older? I decided that I was already dependent on it, I liked the speed (though the potential of more was very inviting) and that it was still the best value I could find, so I kept it. One other thing, Seagate didn't even know that the drive wouldn't do 1:1 until some of the Atari users talked to the tech people and convinced them to test it. At that point, they said something to the effect of "how about that", and "no, we won't be updating the roms in the forseeable future". What it amounts to is that until the user community screams long and loud, they're going to figure you're getting a pretty good deal on an 80 meg drive, and aren't that worried about a little extra potential. In answer to the complaints about the non-toll free number(s), here they are: 800-234-5197 HDI customer support (Hailey) 800-468-3472 ext. 2 Seagate customer support (Pam Swanson) Both companies have competent people working for them, but keep in mind that they aren't all technicians, or policy makers, or advertisers. In companies that large it's difficult for the left hand to know what the right hand is doing, so be patient and persistent. Above all, don't condemn a company just because one or two people don't have all the facts and try to answer questions they aren't equipped to handle. Michael L. Bowden Internet: bowden@gumby.cc.wmich.edu Western Michigan University bowden@gw.wmich.edu Academic Computer Center Voice: (616) 387-5448 Kalamazoo, MI 49008 -- Michael L. Bowden Internet: bowden@gumby.cc.wmich.edu Western Michigan University bowden@gw.wmich.edu Academic Computer Center Voice: (616) 387-5448 Kalamazoo, MI 49008