Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!crdgw1!argentina From: rankins@argentina (raymond r rankins) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: Hard drive questions. Message-ID: <15011@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> Date: 19 Dec 90 13:13:32 GMT References: <11776@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU> Sender: news@crdgw1.crd.ge.com Reply-To: rankins@argentina (raymond r rankins) Distribution: usa Organization: Replace me with your organization Lines: 35 In-reply-to: mcgovern@handel.cs.colostate.edu (michael sea mcgovern) In article <11776@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU>, mcgovern@handel (michael sea mcgovern) writes: >I am going to be buying a hard drive for my IIgs, and was hoping that >someone who knows about this stuff could give me some advice. I am >looking at a 40 meg Q-drive, with a RamFast SCSI for about $700. I >have heard that hard drives that are advertised and formatted for the >Mac are much cheaper. If I went this route, the RamFast would cost >about $169, and the disk "Chinook SCSI Tools" would be about $30(I >assume I need this disk to do the low level format, or could that be done >with the RamFast utilities?). Would the Mac drive still be cheaper with >$200 overhead? If so, is there any reason that I shouldn't buy one? >I am not a novice, but am certainly not an expert either. I wouldn't >mind paying for the ready-to-go II drive, but if it not too difficult, I would >like to save some money, and possibly get a larger Mac drive (something like >60 megs, which I can't justify at the II prices). Any insight into this >matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Let's see. Quickly looking through a recent MacWorld, I see external Quantum 100MB drives for about $599. Add a RamFast ($169) or a Apple High Speed SCSI ($109) and you are looking at $708 - $768 for more than double the storage of the 40 MB Q-Drive. You don't need the Chinook SCSI tools as the interleave on the Quantum drive can't be changed anyway - The Quantum ProDrives have a built in 32k cache on the drive controller and they are plenty fast (15-20 seconds to boot to the finder with an Apple Rev C SCSI card!) - the interleave is optimized for the caching. All you need to do is partition and format the drive with the IIGS Advanced Disk Utilities. A Quantum 40 MB drive would cost you about $200 less than a 100 MB system. Ray Ray Rankins |(518) 387-7174 | INTERNET: rankins@argentina.crd.ge.com 2 Moonglow Rd. |(518) 583-3320 | COMPUSERVE: 71131,3236 Gansevoort, NY 12831 | | AmericaOnline: RayRankins | GEnie: R.Rankins