Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-picayune.mit.edu!athena.mit.edu!caserta
From: caserta@athena.mit.edu (Francesco Caserta)
Subject: Re: SLOW WRITE ON OPTICAL ERASABLES
Message-ID: <1991Jun15.195608.14320@athena.mit.edu>
Keywords: OPTICAL, PERFORMANCE
Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
References:  <1080@camco.Celestial.COM>
Date: Sat, 15 Jun 91 19:56:08 GMT
Lines: 29

You may want to look into the new all-optical drives, rather than MO. I'm
in the market for an optical drive for a Sun IPC and I've done some search.

All-optical drives use (Panasonic's) phase-change technology and don't use
magnets. Instead, a laser converts a spot on the medium to either an
amorphous state or a crystalline state. In the past, cyclability of
phase-change technology has lagged behind MO systems. However, phase-change
systems today offer cyclability rates equal to MO systems.

On Workstation News (June 91) there are the Benchmark Test Results between
Panasonic LF 7010 and Sony NWP-539. Sometime, these all-optical drives are
also called Multifuction Optical Drives, because they can function also as
WORM drives. Computer Upgrade Corporation markets a Pioneer-based,the 
Omnistor, with improved performance derived from use of a 250K RAM. If the
manufacturer's perfomance claims are true, this machine performs faster than
any Sony-based erasable optical, yet costs only $4195.

An all-optical drive that I know a little better is the `Duette' sold by
Maximum Storage (719) 531-6888. It's a 1GByte drive, supporting also WORM,
which costs $4995 for the Sparcstation (MAXSYS software included). The
rewriteable media cost $225 from Maximum. As it's expected from an
all-optical drive, the Duette is also quite small.

If anyone is using these new all-optical drives, we would be happy to
hear their experience. 

Thanks,

Francesco Caserta