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From: gousha@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Charles Gousha)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Wanted: Info on SyQuest drives
Message-ID: <13284@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 2 May 91 00:06:49 GMT
References: <63986@bbn.BBN.COM>
Sender: news@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU
Reply-To: gousha@cory.Berkeley.EDUIn article <63986@bbn.BBN.COM> jclesius@labs-n.bbn.com (Jeff Clesius) writes:
Lines: 44

>Can anyone shed some light on SyQuest 45Mb removable disk drives?

>I need to purchase such a beast in the near future.  It needs to have
>EXTERNAL SCSI termination because my scanner is internally terminated.
>I would appreciate any first-hand information with respect to reliability
>and price.  Personally, I would prefer to spend the extra bucks for a more
>reliable unit, but, there's no need to overspend either.

>Any information is most welcome, and THANKS!

>Jeff Clesius
>jclesius@bbn.com

I purchased a SyQuest Drive from Berkeley Data Access (a local company)
about five months ago.  I've run a number of cartridges through it since
then, and have had almost no problems whatsoever.  One cartridge of the
many I got to begin with did fail on me, but it was almost immediate,
and was QUICKLY replaced by BDA with a new one that hasn't had a hitch
since.  Good company!

I am told that SyQuest drives have a failure rate about twice that of
normal hard drives.  As you can expect, a lot of people swear by them,
and a lot of people swear AT them.  Personally, I love the things, and
the idea that extra HD space only costs me ~$2/meg instead of the regular
$8-10/meg.

As to the drive itself, (at least the one that I got), it's a zero
footprint model with internal SCSI termination controlled by a switch
on the back - much nicer than dealing with plugging external terminators
into the line.

I was considering a mainstream model like an Ehman or a Microtech until
I stumbled over one of BDA's product description sheets at a BMUG meeting,
(about 4 pages) and read what it had that the others DON'T.
If you're interested, mail me and I can get you more info.

Hope some of this - or any of this - helps.

P.S. I hope this doesn't sound TOO much like a sales pitch.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles Gousha                 |    "Yes, Star Trek IS a way of life"
gousha@cory.berkeley.edu       |               (my own philosophy)
All normal disclaimers apply, as well as some abnormal ones.