Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!pdn!boake2!jc3b21!david From: david@jc3b21.UUCP (David Quarles) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: S U R V E Y ... (done) HARD DRIVES FOR MAC ... Keywords: Survey of hard disk recommendations for the Macintosh Message-ID: <605@jc3b21.UUCP> Date: 20 Mar 89 02:30:17 GMT Organization: St. Petersburg Jr. College, FL Lines: 198 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= THE FOLLOWING IS THE SUMMARY OF RESPONSES I SAID I'D DO IF THERE WAS SUFFICIENT RESPONSE. I AM KINDA NEW AT THIS 'NET' STUFF AND AM GLAD TO SAY THAT I SERIOUSLY UNDERESTIMATED THE RESPONSE I'D GET. I AM PLEASED TO SAY THAT MUCH EMAIL AND SOME POSTING TOOK PLACE. |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| T h a n k s t o a l l |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NOTE: I did no editing (except for a couple spelling errors). These statements are of the experiences of the respondents, which after all is what we shoppers want to hear (the good AND bad), RIGHT ?? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I am the one selling the Jasmine DD50. As it happens, I am not upgrading. I sold my mac several months ago, and I am just now selling my disk drive. The reason is that I used to program it, but now I am too busy doing UN*X stuff. I will make you a recommendation anyway: Jasmine. I was very happy with mine. They make big disks. One general bit of advice: wait until after the MacWorld Expo in SF. There will undoubtedly be new releases and price reductions on the old gear. Good Luck, Scott =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= In my experience Rodime drives are pretty good. You may want to look into Jasmine drives as well. They are very good. All of those companies are well known (Miniscribe, and CMS too). $1275 is a very good price for 160Megs indeed!!!! I haven't ever seen so much for so little myself, but it is not the name that is cheap. Miniscibe is a very good company for HDs. I say go for it! Just be sure you fill out the Waranty right away, and you can't go wrong. Seek time might be slow, but for 160Meg at that price!!?? SHIT! Have fun with it! I myself have a 20Meg, and run out of room every day... Where did you see this price... sounds inviting! Mark L =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I have an INTERNAL Rodime 140 MB disk for my Mac II. It works very well (and has since I got it in July). The formatted capacity is 138,677K. It is fairly speedy (28 ms access, about as fast as the old Quantum Q280 80 MB disk, though not as fast as the new 40 or 80 MB Quantum 3.5" hard disks). I have seen MacLand (advertises in MacUser) list them for about $1100 or so for the internal. I have no problems with mine and would buy it again (actually, two of them!). Robert =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I have been using a Seagate 277N, 60 meg nominal, which I put in an AppleHive box, for about three months. The drive is fine. The company I bought it from was Hard Drives International. They now advertise the same drive in a box with cables and software for $589. I have no hesitation recommending it. They claim to be the largest mail order hard drive dealer. They have free tech support. Seagate has free tech support. I have used Seagates support in solving a problem I had with third party software. They were very obliging. They even use an 800 number. Yes, the ST277N has a somewhat slower track to track access time than others (40ms), but depending upon the way you use the drive, transfer times may be more important and these are decent. I am using a Plus. The SE will do better because of its smaller optimal sector interleave. My ST277N is faster in practice than both the FX20 and the Photon 30 at work. One more point. Most boxes will hold two drives, and most power supplies will handle two. If you were to put an additional ST277N in your box ($450) more, you would have the best meg/buck I have seen. Stan Armstrong. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I ordered a 62mb ST277n hard drive from Hard Drives International in Arazona, and an Apple Hive chassies (30 watts and a fan) from TULIN corp (sorry, both addresses and phone numbers are locked in a lab that I can't get into, as there is something wrong with the lock...) and it went together in 15 minutes. If you're at all mechanicaly inclined, can read english, and can twist a screwdriver, you can make your own hard drive for a total cost of (get this) 450 for the drive, 200 for the chassies and assorted cables (big overestemation, probably more like $160) so you've got a grand max total of about $650 american for 62 megs. Sounds like a bargan to me! There's a tweak with RESEDIT, to modify the instaler program on the Mac to recognize the drive. I'll send you this info if you decide to go this route. Best of luck! (it works fine for me, and I've been carting it back and forth to school in -20 deg celsius since I've gotten it... it IS heavy though...) Mark. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Seriously, though. If you can afford the extra expense, I'd recommend a DataFrame XP60 (or even 150) from SuperMac. It's very reliable, very fast, and works very well. It's a little more expensive, but from what I've heard about hard drives, you get what you pay for. Mark H. Anbinder =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Sometime over the summer MacWorld and/or MacUser had a comparison of roughly 300 drives. It was a table of price, size, speed and warranty. Basically, I'd recommend against one with less than a year warranty. Some give two or more. I've had my Jasmine for a year without problems. We have lots of Rodimes at work with mixed experiences. The new Jasmines are Rodime drives with their own firmware and software that seem better than Rodime Rodimes. 160Meg for $1275? Well, last year I paid $1295 for 90Meg. Today it's common to get about 100Meg for about $1000. I'd say it's a good price. Keep looking for reviews. (and get a real mailer :) Fred Hollander =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I have an SE20 with Apple's miniscribe internal 20 - it's dreadfully noisy, not only is the motor really loud, but the head stepper is even louder - it sounds fast (although it isn't), I don't know why Apple stopped fitting the Rodime 20. That drive is actually quicker at data transfer than the Miniscribe by about 30 %, although admittedly about 10% slower at seek time, if that were possible ! Now this just applies to the miniscribe 20 that apple supply (this SE was made in late november), so other capacities may be different, but if this was the drive you were thinking of, either think again or get some ear defenders (BTW, I'm not ultra- sensitive to this problem), but it sure is noisy! Sorry to be pessimistic - I have lots of drives and the miniscribe is by far & away the worst ... John =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I run a large macintosh BBS and own 12 mac harddrives. The only drive to fail in the 2 years the BBS has been up is a MiniScribe. I don't know if this is a general indication of their quality but... I HIGHLY reccomend any drive that uses the Quantum mechanism. It has a MTBF of 50,000 hrs, the longest in the industy. They are fast and available at discount. My next choice would be Rodime as their current drives seem real solid. Bob Murrow =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= We had bad luck with a 20-meg Miniscribe that same standard with a Mac SE. It lasted slightly less than a year before crashing badly. The local repair shop told us that they see an unusually high number of these drives that have died. I would recommend staying away from this 20-meg version. I don't know about their other drives. The drive is currently sitting on my desk with the covers off -- it has some nasty scratches where the head crashed! mike carlton =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Well, I do own a Miniscribe. I don't remember the model number, but it's a 62 meg delivered by Stratcomp. Well, it works, and has been running for some months now with not none but small problems. When I got it, it worked for one evening and then died. The company which I bought it from sent me another driver, and since then it works fine. I have to run the "ambulance" pretty often, since it loses 10 megs once in a while. I don't know if the disk or driver is responsible for that. No, I wouldn't buy a Miniscribe if I had a second choice, but I DON'T know if I can blame the drive. The worst part is the fan noise, and I guess that only holds for the Stratcomp drives. I would say: I have some doubts, and I would check all comparable alternatives first, but it works. I guess it's OK as a low-budget drive. Ingemar Ragnemalm =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I've got a miniscribe disk inside my LaCie Cirrus 30. It has been fine up til a few nights ago -- not too fast, but it's a 30 megger, so that's life, and kind of loud (louder than the fan that LaCie supplies.) Two nights ago, the thing crashed, to the extent that it can't be re-initialized. That could be the drive, or the drive controller (made by LaCie, not MiniScribe.) Now, generally I have good things to say about LaCie, and I really do believe my crash to be a fluke. I'd guess that MiniScribe drives are pretty reliable. But I have had some unpleasantness... Joe Hellerstein =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Subject: Re: INTERNAL Hard Drive for Mac SE I just thought I'd throw a little support toward my hard disk: the Hardware House MAX-40. I've got one for my II, and I just convinced a friend to get one for his two floppy SE. I installed both myself, with very little trouble. It is quite a tight fit in the SE, however. For $650, as a 16ms seek drive (12ms with the on-board cache...) it can't be beat. I've been beating on it for a couple of weeks so far, and no problems. I can't say more than that, since it's a new drive, but I'm happy. Bob Hablutzel =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Again, THANKS to everyone who helped. I hope posting this helps someone else decide if need be. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Dave =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= EOT