Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!decwrl!shelby!agate!ziploc!eps From: eps@toaster.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: hard drive info wanted Summary: ...and you thought only NeXT's optical drives were losers Keywords: Hard disk add on's Message-ID: <884@toaster.SFSU.EDU> Date: 9 Oct 90 03:31:47 GMT References: <52457@brunix.UUCP> <1990Oct8.214307.26670@ccng.waterloo.edu> <52489@brunix.UUCP> Reply-To: eps@cs.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) Organization: San Francisco State University Lines: 52 In article <52489@brunix.UUCP> agm@cs.brown.edu (Axel Merk) writes: >Nothing is fixed, however: the drive is still formatted at 512 bytes >per sector. At the top-level, two 512 byte-blocks are bundled >together. >In other words: >- you lose speed by bundling and because 512 bytes/sector is not the >fastest way to access data for the big drives. >- you lose space by using 512 bytes/sector (a lot more information >needs to be stored to keep twice as many sectors). This bothers me. We recently received our second "660 MB with HP controller" (direct from NeXT!) and it's formatted for 512. The first came installed in a cube, and it only lasted a few days before needing replacement ... with a genuine Maxtor that's been working fine, of course. Here's what scsimodes has to say about it: Drive type: HP 97548S 512 bytes per sector 56 sectors per track 16 tracks per cylinder 1522 cylinder per volume (including spare cylinders) 1 spare sectors per track 140 alternate tracks per volume 1354751 usable sectors on volume This sucker's noisy too... so was the first one. (There's more "horror story" here--but I'll leave that for now.) This is what NeXT used to ship us: Drive type: MAXTOR XT-8760S 1024 bytes per sector 28 sectors per track 15 tracks per cylinder 1632 cylinder per volume (including spare cylinders) 4 spare sectors per cylinder 45 alternate tracks per volume 676415 usable sectors on volume These were GREAT disks. I guess it's time to start exploring 3rd party sources. (And order new color systems while NeXT still ships Sony monitors???) -=EPS=- -- Several people, on seeing the literature for the NeXTstation have commented "Euuu! Quantum drives!" and cited that as the best reason not to buy one.