Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!a186 From: Harvey_Taylor@mindlink.UUCP (Harvey Taylor) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: Are Flopticals Vaporware? Message-ID: <5241@mindlink.UUCP> Date: 23 Mar 91 02:57:50 GMT Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada Lines: 173 There are several High Capacity Floppies that have been announced & some of which you can buy. In no particular order: 1) Brier 2) Insite 3) Panasonic 4) Konica 5) NEC --------- 1) Brier --------- [Available to OEMs as far as I know.] Brier Technology 2363 Bering Drive San Jose, CA 95131 (408)435-8463 CAPACITY unformatted 25.0 meg formatted 21.4 meg CONFIGURATION Number of disks 1 Data Surfaces 2 Data heads 2 Servo System T^3 Tracks per surface 516 Track density (TPI) 777 Track capacity (bytes typical) 20480 Blocks per drive (512 byte) 42080 Blocks per surface (512 byte) 21040 Blocks per track (typical 512 byte) 40 MEDIA (flexible diskette) 3.5" PERFORMANCE Actuator Linear voice coil motor Seek time (includes setting) Track to track (ms) 15 Average (ms) 35 Maximum (ms) 70 Average latency (ms) 41.6 Rotation speed (RPM) 720 Data transfer rate To/From the media (megabits/sec) 2.2 To/from the buffer (megabytes/sec) 1.25 Start time 1 sec Stop time 1 sec READ/WRITE Interface SCSI Recording method BRLL Recording density (BPI) 26000 COMPATIBILITY the BR3225 (not BR3020) reads IBM formatted floppy disks Dimensions L: 5.75", W: 4.0", H: 1.625" Weight: 1.6 pounds Power requirements (*) DC Input +12 volts DC +5 volts DC Power dissipation <9 watts (operational-seeking) * Power management algorithms reduce power to an average of 2.0 watts for typical applications. --------- 2) Insite --------- [Available to OEMs as far as I know.] Insite Peripherals 4433 Fortran Drive San Jose, CA 95134-2302 (408)946-8080 CAPACITY unformatted 25 megs formatted 20.8 megs Recording density 23980 BPI (RLL) Transfer from DISK 1.6 Mbit/Sec Buffer transfer rate 2 Mbyte/Sec Average Seek time 65 msec Settle time 15 msec Motor start time 750 msec # of read/write heads 2 Track density 1250 TPI Cylinders 755 Tracks 1510 Rotational speed 720 rpm Power dissipation 6 watt average Data reliability <1 error unrecoverable error per 10**11 bits Seek errors <1 error per 10**6 seeks Drive dimensions H: 1.625" W: 4.0" D 5.91" --------- 3) Panasonic --------- [Not yet released as far as I know.] Panasonic Industrial Co. Memory Systems Division 1600 McCandless Drive Milpitas, CA 95035 (408) 262-2200 The Memory Systems Division of Panasonic Industrial Co. recently announced a disk drive that will put 11 megabytes of data on a newly developed 3.5 inch metal floppy disk. The large capacity floppy disk drive, called the 3511, is equipped with an embedded SCSI controller and encoder with a micro-stepping motor, and has a self-formatting function to initialize the media, according to the company. The 3511 large-capacity floppy disk drive is also read-only compatible with conventional 1-megabyte and 2-megabyte 3.5 inch disks, according to Panasonic Industrial. The magnetic media, which has an unformatted capacity of 16 megabytes, has a formatted capacity of 11 megabytes and a linear recording density of 35,000 bits per inch with 640 tracks on each side, according to the company. The metal disk and two recording heads increase the linear recording density, and a micor-stepping motor with an encoder allows high-speed access and high-precision tracking of plus or minus 2 micrometers. The 3511's average access time is less than 60 milliseconds and track-to-tack time is less than 10 milliseconds, according to Panasonic Industrial. The drive's data transfer rate is 2 megabits per second, according to the company. Evaluation units of the 3511 floppy disk drive will be available in the second quarter, with production quantities scheduled for July. The 3511 drive will list for $250. --------- 4) Konica --------- [Still available?] The drive, Konica KT-510, is a 10 meg floppy which uses a SCSI interface. The diskettes are standard type 5 1/4" floppies with a 650 oersted rated media and are specially formatted by Konica with 480 tracks per inch. The diskettes contain special optical coding which is used in conjunction with the optical tracking mechanism on the drive itself. The optic system maintains info on direction, velocity and location. Thus, the drive can accurately seek to tracks and sectors despite the high data density. Diskettes are typically high level formatted at 350 tracks of 30 sectors each. The head mechanism is driven by a voice coil actuator and has an average seek of 75 ms and an average track-to-track of 20 ms. Thus, it is quite similar to an ST-225's specs. The motor runs at 600 RPM. With special drivers the drive can be downward compatible to read 48 or 96 tpi diskettes. Mounting is similar to any 5 1/4" floppy drive. --------- 5) NEC --------- [Not yet released as far as I know.] NEC 1414 Massachusetts Ave. Boxborough, MA 01719 (508)264-8939 Embedded servo data 12 Mbyte Barium-Ferrite 3.5" disks 431 tpi 360 rpm References: ---------- Byte, Oct 1990, Page 301, Megafloppies by Stephen Satchell Byte, Sept 1990, Page 188, Stor/Mor Review A Guide to Optical Storage Technology by J.A. McCormick Dow-Jones-Irwin 1990, ISBN 1-55623-320-5 --- Pointers to other high capacity floppies would be appreciated. -het "Kill them all! God will know his own." -the Abbot of Citeaux Harvey Taylor Meta Media Productions uunet!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!Harvey_Taylor a186@mindlink.UUCP