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From: J.Pearce@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Hard Disk Questions / Silver Lining
Message-ID: <1274@ucl-cs.uucp>
Date: 8 Nov 90 17:14:24 GMT
Sender: news@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Lines: 30


I have recently purchased a 170M internal Quantum hard disk for my 
Macintosh IIci. I used SCSI Evaluator and it seems to give a
significant performance improvement over the original Apple/Quantum
hard disk. The Apple/Quantum gave an average access time of 22ms and
a transfer rate of about 6 Mbits/s. In comparison the new Quantum
gave an average access time of 16ms and a transfer rate of 9 Mbits/s.

However, the original Apple/Quantum was very quite with only a slight
"gurgling" noise - NO ROM PROBLEMS. The new Quantum makes quite a distinct
and loud "scratching" noise, presumably when the heads move. Can anyone
comment on this noise - is it normal ?

I used Sliver Lining to format the new Quantum and everything seems to be
OK. However, it offers a choice of drivers and a test loop to choose the
optimal read/write combination for your drive. I followed this procedure
and rerun the SCSI Evaluator read/write tests and they had taken a
decided turn for the worse. Have I done anything wrong or is there a
problem with SCSI Evaluator or Silver Lining ?

John R. Pearce

jpearce@uk.ac.ucl.cs

Computer Science Department
University College London
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT
UK