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From: steve@violet.berkeley.edu (Steve Goldfield)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Syquest Removables: Good or Bad?
Message-ID: <1990Oct30.230202.19636@agate.berkeley.edu>
Date: 30 Oct 90 23:02:02 GMT
References: <90.272d76aa@mbcl.rutgers.edu>
Sender: usenet@agate.berkeley.edu (USENET Administrator)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
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In article <90.272d76aa@mbcl.rutgers.edu> friedman@mbcl.rutgers.edu writes:
#>>I've read the comments previously posted on the net.  I've also read the
#>>last two MacWeeks which throw some doubt on the reliability of the
#>>drives.  What's the real truth?  Are there reputable dealers of Syquest
#>>45M removable drives at reasonable prices out there or are all the
#>>drives bad?
#>
#>We have had in our lab a PLI Infinity 40 Turbo Syquest for about 9 months.
#>We have had 7 cartridges  only one of which went bad (by which I mean that
#>even though it said it could handle 42M, after 8M it would not accept any
#>more transfers).  The read/write time is extremely fast (compared to a floppy).
#>The only problem is that if you buy from more than one manufacture, you should
#>use only one driver.  A friend in another lab has syquest with a different
#>driver and in order for me to use his disk I have to install his driver.  My
#>syquest then can read his disk.

I've had a DPI 44R (the one recommended by BMUG) on my desk for
a few weeks. The first one I got failed on the first day. I
sent it back and got a new unit. I've had no problems yet,
except that when I loaded the DPI before turning on my Mac,
my system loaded from the DPI and my internal hard disk wasn't
visible. Now I turn on the DPI but don't load the cartridge
until my Mac comes up.

I agree that the Syquest is quite fast, almost as fast as my
internal Apple drive. I have six cartridges. Where else could
I get 240 megs for under $1,000 with the option of adding more
for $75 per 42 megs. I'm using it for backup, archival storage,
and as a second disk drive.

If you are concerned, however, and can spend more money,
there are a couple of other alternatives now, which are
supposed to be more robust and which hold slightly more
per cartridge.

Steve Goldfield
College of Engineering
UC Berkeley