Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!midway!news
From: phd_ivo@gsbacd.uchicago.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Looking for SCSI disks
Message-ID: <1990Sep22.065018.5315@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: 22 Sep 90 05:38:04 GMT
Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (News Administrator)
Organization: University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
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Here is what I did:

About 2 months ago, I found myself in need of more storage capacity.  Mac and
PC magazines were not good sources for finding dealers in 300-10000MB
harddisks. Instead, workstation magazines (the type that comes in large-size
newspaper format) were a much better source (more vendors, cheaper). The prices
at the time were roughly $1,000-$1,500 for a 300MB harddisk (some of the
vendors went bankrupt, so this is where this large variance comes from), and
roughly $2,400 for a 650MB harddisk. 

I chose an external Wren drive, because TheFormatter was available for it from
the standard net sources. Installation was less than 1hour---and believe me I
had no clue about SCSI and disk formats. Having gone through this procedure, I
would highly recommend it even to novices. Saves a lot of $$$.

The Wren disk has been working fine, although it makes a distinct whirring
sound. I should probably investigate printer enclosures to reduce this noise...

Also, I would not use the OD for backup purposes---except in a very low dust
environment. I have had several disks lose information, but I am in a rather
dusty room. I also understand that in cleaner environments, NeXT's ODs are very
reliable (and more so than ODs by other vendors).

/ivo welch	ivo@next.agsm.ucla.edu