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From: gjphw@ihlpf.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Quiry about the reliability of Atari hard disks
Message-ID: <1197@ihlpf.ATT.COM>
Date: Thu, 5-Mar-87 11:06:46 EST
Article-I.D.: ihlpf.1197
Posted: Thu Mar  5 11:06:46 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 7-Mar-87 02:00:54 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 24
Keywords: Atari, 1040ST, hard disk drive, reliability



    I have the opportunity to purchase an Atari 20 Mbyte hard disk for our
 1040ST.  The drive appears to be in good condition though it comes used and
 without documentation (the manual may not be very informative anyway).  I am
 seeking comments from people who have experience or hearsay knowledge about
 this drive.

    How reliable is this drive?  What problems are likely to occur?  Can most
 crashes be accommodated by the spare capacity on the disk?  If it requires
 repair, what is likely to fail and how much does it cost to get it fixed?
 Does the drive come in decorator colors?

    A more general question concerns the relative merits of having a hard disk
 drive versus using a large RAM disk for program development.  While a hard
 disk appears to be in vogue, wouldn't a large RAM disk in memory serve even
 better for quiet and fast temporary storage?

    Thank you for mailing your comments.

                                          Patrick Wyant
                                          AT&T Bell Laboratories
                                          Naperville, IL
                                          *!ihnp4!ihlpf!gjphw