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From: slc@hoptoad.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Cheap Hard Disks (the competition)
Message-ID: <2070@hoptoad.uucp>
Date: Wed, 29-Apr-87 14:56:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: hoptoad.2070
Posted: Wed Apr 29 14:56:09 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 1-May-87 01:23:45 EDT
References: <8704181043.AA14428@cogsci.berkeley.edu>
Reply-To: slc@hoptoad.UUCP (Steve Costa)
Organization: Presidio Software
Lines: 53



In article <3372@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU
                    (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer) writes:

 >I saw that leading edge box. The perfect disk subsystem flashed before
 >my eyes - an over-the-amiga Zorro expansion with a full-height 5 1/4"
 >disk cutout in it. Put one 20Meg HD + one 20Meg bernoulli box in that,
 >each half-height. Heaven. And _expensive_.

Why bother with the conventional HD? Use two Bernoullis. (as for expense, read
on).

 >The Bernoulli boxes are made by IOMega. You can get them in either
 >ST-506 or SCSI. The retail on a 5 1/4" half-height drive (what's in
 >the Leading Edge clone), without enclosure or power supply, is $3000.
 >That's right, $1000 more than the Leading Edge box. So a dream goes
 >down the pipe.

Actual retail Prices on the Bernoulli Boxes are MUCH lower than list
prices. Also, that price is for TWO drives, not one! (although I assume
that Leading Edge machine has only one, which is probably why the total
price is low). Opening the March issue of Byte Magazine, I quickly found an
ad with the following prices:

   10 + 10 Meg.   $1595       (these are external boxes with
   20 + 20 Meg.   $2095        TWO 10M or 20M drives)

Of course, you would have to add the price of an Amiga controller card onto
this.

 >Possibly a group could arrange to get many of them at a better price.
 >Better yet, a manufacturer could start offering them, thus getting an
 >OEMs price for them. I know that RS Data is going to investigate it,
 >since I mentioned it to them. Perry, any chance of ASDG picking up
 >something like that?

Great ideas!!!!!!!!!!!

If I had confidence that I could run a Bernoulli Box on my Amiga, I would
buy one immediately. I haven't the slightest idea how difficult it would
be to write a driver for it.

Think of these advantages:

   Speed of conventional hard disks
   Much more durable (I've lost 2 conventional HD's on my IBM PC)
   Infinite virtual storage
   Instant backup

I'm flogging this idea, because I hope someone will see the same advantages I
do, and make it possible. My need for mass storage on my Amiga is becoming
critical but I DO NOT WANT TO BUY A CONVENTIONAL HARD DISK!