Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!brl-adm!umd5!uvaarpa!mcnc!decvax!decwrl!hplabs!hpcea!hpfcdc!hpldola!ritchie
From: ritchie@hpldola.HP.COM (Dave Ritchie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: ST hard disk prices..:-(
Message-ID: <11830001@hpldola.HP.COM>
Date: 28 Mar 88 01:26:19 GMT
References: <409@ole.UUCP>
Organization: HP Elec. Design Div. -ColoSpgs
Lines: 35


  cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) writes: 
>But wait a minute, let's see what we have
>	20Meg Drive	$250
>	BMS Controller	$250 (all PC drives are ST506)
>	Power Supply	 $25
>        Case		 $25 (or buy a PC clone case with supply for $40)
>	Cable/Connectors $15 (you crimp them together)
>		============
>	    Total	$565. Holy Shit Batman I'm saving a measly $35!   
>
>No, the answer to the original question which was "Why are PC drives so much
>cheaper" is that all you get when you get a PC drive is the mechanism. You
>don't get a power supply and a box and a special controller. Atari drive 
>suppliers have to supply a complete system. A better comparison is with
>Macintosh drives, which also have to supply a case and supply etc.
>

   The prices for PC cases/supply are probably a bit low... more like $40
for a case and $50- 80 for a PC compatible supply (re JDR microdevices). 
   The real difference is that 1) PC owners have most likely purchased
a power supply that is sufficently large to power a drive, and 2) that
PC-bus to ST-506 (with no intermediate SASI step, I suspect) are *CHEAP*
(c. $60 judging by the difference in prices of raw drives vs. drives + PC 
controllers). The miracle of mass production!
  A friend of mine in Boulder lashed together a drive (5MByte)
using a ST-506 that he picked up a hamfest for $20 (using a XEBEC 1410
HD controller), but he knew what he was doing. In many cases, it wouldn't
pay for Joe User to roll his own... The Atari drive is too cheap by 
comparison (How much is your time worth?) Incidently, he is thinking 
about writing up this for one of the magazines.... any interest? (He has 
a host adapter that can be built for minimal $$$, and has written the 
software. He wants to clean it all up and draw schematics, etc.).

				Dave