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From: jcburt@ipsun.larc.nasa.gov (John Burton)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Mitsubishi hard disk
Keywords: hard disk
Message-ID: <1990Nov19.151531.13657@abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov>
Date: 19 Nov 90 15:15:31 GMT
References: <1990Nov16.191532.17896@cbnewsm.att.com>
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In article <1990Nov16.191532.17896@cbnewsm.att.com> wg@cbnewsm.att.com (Bill Gieske) writes:
>
>Does anyone have experience with Mitsubishi hard drivers, and/or with 
>Hard Drives, a mail order outfit advertising in PC Magazine?  I am 
>purchasing a Mitsubishi MR535 drive from them, at what appears to be
>a very competitive price.  They talked me out of a Seagate 40 Mb or 60 Mb
>drive, instead recommending this 65 Mb drive.  One new feature noted by
>the sales person is that the drive uses rotary voice coil for head
>movement.  He also noted that the rate of return on Seagate drives is
>high, hence another reason for recommending this drive.  Any info would
>be appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>Bill Gieske
>wg@cbnewsm

I purchased a Mitsubishi MR535 RLL format hard drive (with controller)
from Hard Drives International for my true blue IBM-PC/XT. Initially
I could not low-level format the disk properly. After talking with 
their support department, I sent the drive back. Unfortunately it turned
out that the controller was bad (I found this out by having the SAME problem
with the replacement disk). So the second time, I sent both the controller
and the disk back,  which they promptly replaced. Since that initial 
controller problem, I've been VERY happy with the MR535, no problems
whatsoever. HDI was very helpful throughout the entire situation, and
were more than happy to handle a return. The only complaints I have
are the lack of an 800 tech support number (although they DIDN'T keep
me on hold very long at all) and the fact that I had to pay for return
shipping...

As far as the drive itself, I heartily recommend it. The voice coil
head actuator is a definite plus...you get automatic head parking and
you don't have the thermal expansion induced head alignment problems that 
you get with stepper motor head acuators (stepper motor drives should be
low-level formated on a regular basis, not so with voice coil)

John Burton
(jcburt@cs.wm.edu)
(jcburt@ipsun.larc.nasa.gov)