Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!agate!darkstar!ucscb.UCSC.EDU!unknown
From: unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (The Unknown User)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Cartridge/Removable drives?
Message-ID: <10306@darkstar.ucsc.edu>
Date: 21 Dec 90 01:11:47 GMT
References: <26988.chatter.infoapple@pro-beagle>
Sender: usenet@darkstar.ucsc.edu
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz; Open Access Computing
Lines: 51


In article <26988.chatter.infoapple@pro-beagle> lhaider@pro-beagle.cts.com (Laer Haider) writes:
>>>       My goal is to have one cartridge for main use, and one as a
>>>backup cartridge...
>>If I read this correctly, and you intend to back up one cartridge to 
>>another (as opposed to backing up a regular drive to cartridge) this 
>>isn't particularly enjoyable.  My cartridge drive takes about 20-30
>>seconds each for spinning down and up.  So, you can count on at least
>>1 minute for each cartridge swap. Floppies are a lot faster even with
>>the slower access.

	I didn't reply to this earlier. Yes, this is my intention.
Lets use your 1 minute time for each swap, even though when I used a
cartridge drive, it was about 1/2 to 3/4 of a minute, not a minute...

	So I have 1.75 megs right now.. (hope to get more in the future)..
So that's at least a meg of memory to be used for copying..

	So if we presume that the cartridge is COMPLETELY full (rare),
and that it takes .5 minute to read and write out the meg that it's 
currently copying...

	so that's 40 (round it down a little for easy computation) * 1
+ 40 * .5... which is 60 minutes... An hour...

	And that's only the FIRST time. Incremental backups will take
MUCH less time. It's worth an hour of cartridge swapping versus 
45 minutes (whatever, just a made up #) of floppy swapping... Dealing
with floppies in the long run is much worse than dealing with cartridges
in the long run.

>The ideal setup would be to have 2 44MB cartridge drives in one box.
>Duel drives.  This way you have 88 MB on line with the option of doing
>a disk to disk backup to other cartridges.  I got my 105MB Toshiba and
>will be happy with that until the 20MB floptical drives come out.  That
>will make my backups and misc. data storage a helluva lot nicer.  
>Anyone got any info on the progress in marketing these little wonders?

	The flopticals are OUT from what I've heard.  The two companies
making similar drives are Brier Peripherals and Insite Technology, both
based in San Jose.

	One of them was released already, and the other is soon to be out..
(so they ARE out as I said)..

	This intrigue me too.. But I've heard they are gonna be about $800
new, versus $500 for cartridge drives..
-- 
/Apple II(GS) Forever! unknown@ucscb.ucsc.edu MAIL ME FOR INFO ABOUT CHEAP CDs\
|WRITE TO ORIGIN ABOUT ULTIMA VI //e and IIGS! Mail me for addresses, & info. | 
\   "Dammit Bev, is it you inside or is it the clown?" -IT by Stephen King    /