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Path: utzoo!utcs!lsuc!pesnta!conejo!tim
From: tim@conejo.UUCP (James T. Kehres)
Newsgroups: net.periphs,net.wanted
Subject: Re: Optical disk computer storage?
Message-ID: <194@conejo.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 24-Feb-85 01:45:57 EST
Article-I.D.: conejo.194
Posted: Sun Feb 24 01:45:57 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 24-Feb-85 03:45:43 EST
References: <398@lll-crg.ARPA>
Reply-To: tim@conejo.UUCP (James T. Kehres)
Distribution: net
Organization: Conejo Office Systems, San Jose, Calif.
Lines: 37
Xref: utcs net.periphs:618 net.wanted:5779
Summary: 

In article <398@lll-crg.ARPA> azevedo@lll-crg.ARPA (Stephen Azevedo) writes:
>
>	Does anyone out there know about the availability of optical
>or laser disk storage for mini or micro computers?  What I am looking
>for is reliable write-once storage for an inspection system with maybe
>10 to 20 Giga-byte of on-line reference image information.  I realize
>optical disks or compact disks exist, but are there controllers for
>these beasts that plug into some standard bus on some kind of computer
>with some kind of driver at some reasonable price?
>	The largest Winchester disks I've heard of so far are the new
>700 Mbyte (Fujitsu) Eagles so I'm not wild about using magnet disks for
>this application.  Also, the automatic tape libraries are too slow and
>bulky for what we need.  Am I missing something else?  Thank you in
>advance for your help -- I'll be glad to re-post what I find.
>
>			Steve Azevedo (azevedo@lll-crg.arpa)


You might try looking at Hitachi's 301 series optical disk subsystems.  They
were showing two units at the December Comdex show.  I believe that the
IEEE-488 interface is available for the drive, making interfacing to most
computers possible.  One bad point (other than the interface) would be the 
access time (average = 0.25 secones).  Below is an excerpt from their 
literature:

"The 301 will be available in two configurations.  The basic configuration
combines a formatter controller with from one to four disk units, providing
up to 2.6 gigabytes of storage per disk.  The library configuration offers up
to 80 gigabytes of storage.  It incorporates a formatter controller with
powerful, user-friendly software, one or two disk units, and an automatic
changer for up to 32 disk cartridges"


Tim Kehres						Conejo Office Systems
							San Jose,  California
{amd,intelca,nsc,sun,pesnta,twg}!conejo!tim		(408) 286-5170
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