Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!fwi.uva.nl!maarten
From: maarten@fwi.uva.nl (Maarten Carels)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: LaCIE SYQUEST removable cartridge drives
Message-ID: <1069@carol.fwi.uva.nl>
Date: 14 Jun 90 15:27:08 GMT
References: <19845.266C6141@stjhmc.fidonet.org> <16806@haddock.ima.isc.com> <1990Jun12.064408.15790@evax.arl.utexas.edu> <1059@carol.fwi.uva.nl> <445@creatures.cs.vt.edu>
Sender: news@fwi.uva.nl
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davism@creatures.cs.vt.edu (Mat Davis) writes:

> In article <1059@carol.fwi.uva.nl> maarten@fwi.uva.nl (Maarten Carels) writes:
>>lindahl@evax.arl.utexas.edu (Charlie Lindahl) writes:
>>
>>> A friend of mine purchased a SYQUEST 45M removable drive a few months ago. He
>>> came over to my place to download some stuff, and we then discovered that 
>>> the LaCIE formatter/INIT appears not to be compatible with the EHMAN 
>>> counterparts (EHMAN makes an inexpensive---and reliable---SYQUEST drive). 
>>
>>The problem is that LaCie thinks that is is wise to use a non-standard 
>>partition map on cartridges created with their SilverLining stuff.
>>(...)  This means that their cartridges are only usable with their drivers.
>>

> What version of SilverLining is this?  My La Cie/SyQuest drive just came in
> a few days ago, and I haven't noticed any problem.  I've set up one cartridge
> for the Mac OS and two for A/UX, and the 'dp' partitioning program under A/UX
> certainly doesn't seem to have any problem reading the SilverLining partition
> map (and neither do the A/UX drivers, so far as I've seen). (...)

Wel, it turns out that newer SilverLining versions are a bit better
in this respect (I tried 4.17, which did as I described i.e. using a non-
standard partition map that almost no other driver understands). 5.2 which
I found also somewhere, makes a more normal partition map. There are some
glitches in that version too. On cartridges it thinks it is wise to leave
some space free ats the end of the cartridge. Besides, it doesn't allow
to mount more than the first two partitions of a cartridge made with other
products. So, SilverLining has problems in working with cartridges from
other vendors, thus limiting the exchange of cartridges.
Possibly their driver doesn't recognise standard old-style partition maps.

--maarten

--
In real life:	Maarten Carels
		Computer Science Department
		University of Amsterdam
email:		maarten@fwi.uva.nl