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From: drg@mdaali.cancer.utexas.edu (David Gutierrez)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: How bad is a HD with 40ms access time? What are speeds these days?
Message-ID: <4834@lib.tmc.edu>
Date: 13 Mar 91 19:12:43 GMT
References: <7071@idunno.Princeton.EDU>
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In article <7071@idunno.Princeton.EDU> bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU 
(Brian Kendig) writes:
> (1) Will my drive really slow down my system all that much?  My Apple
> campus rep thinks that the LC's hard drive has an access time of
> something like 18-20 milliseconds, but the `official' brochures I have
> from Apple say that an Apple internal 40Mb hard drive has an access
> time of 30ms.  What's the real speed?  Is it relevant?  WIll having a
> drive that's too slow only really mean that Microsoft Word will load
> in twenty seconds rather than fifteen, or will it act to utterly bog
> down my 16MHz 68020?
> 
> (2) Is it or ain't it possible to get an LC with a second internal
> high-density floppy drive?

Maybe these answers are correct. I believe them. If not, someone will be 
sure to correct me.

1) Keep your old hard drive. The LC and Classic use a slower disk made by 
Conner Peripherals. Its access time is about 30 ms. Your 40 ms drive is 
not too swift by today's standards, but it won't bog down your machine.

2) Universities can order two-floppy LCs. They are *not* available through 
the retail channel. The price list that universities get from Apple states 
that two-floppy LCs are for institutional purchase only. That can be 
interpreted two ways: (a) they can be purchased only if the institution 
will be using them, or (b) since the university buys them before it sells 
them to the students/employees, they can be sold to students/employees.

David Gutierrez
drg@mdaali.cancer.utexas.edu

"Only fools are positive." - Moe Howard