Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!decwrl!labrea!lindy!liemandt
From: liemandt@lindy.Stanford.EDU (Joe Liemandt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: MAC 40-80MB HARD DRIVE RECOMMENDATIONS????
Message-ID: <2928@lindy.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 28 Apr 89 06:44:04 GMT
References: <82800CXP120@PSUVM> <23486@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <93537@felix.UUCP> <276@ai.cs.utexas.edu>
Sender: liemandt@lindy.Stanford.EDU (Joe Liemandt)
Reply-To: liemandt@lindy.Stanford.EDU (Joe Liemandt)
Organization: Instruction and Research Information Services, Stanford Univ.
Lines: 54

In article <276@ai.cs.utexas.edu> seo@cs.utexas.edu (Jungyun Seo) writes:
>In article <93537@felix.UUCP> kehr@felix.UUCP (Shirley Kehr) writes:
>-There is an interesting discussion of the Quantum ProDrive 80S in the
>-25 April MacWEEK (MacInTouch column). They've identified these venders
>-as using the ProDrive:   FWB PocketHammer80, Microtech Nova 80,
>-Ruby Systems' StarDrive 80DX and Apple's Internal 80SC for the SE.
>-
>-Interestingly, there were differences in performance caused by the
>-installer software, which has to choose the best set of trade-offs.
>-"The surprise was an outstanding performance turned in by Apple's
>-disk in our standard benchmark test, duplicating a large file from
>-he
>-Finder. In this test, formatting with Apple's software cut the dupli-
>-cation time by 25 percent over third-party installer  software to 
>-match the speed of our CDC Wren. Other tests failed to show the same
>-gains for the Apple software, so it appears that Apple has optimized
>-its disk driver for the Finder without affecting performance
>-lsewhere."
>........
>-Shirley Kehr
>
>If they use the same disc (Quantum 80), is it technically possible to
>use the same formatting software developed by apple to format other
>disc drives to get faster speed?  
>Just Curious.
>
>Jungyun
>-- 


Has anyone tested the drivers that are available?  I noticed the Apple
speedup a while ago, on the old Quantum 280.  Apple seemed to have
optimized the Finder copies.  My tests showed it did beat my CDC Wren 
in Finder copies.  It looked like the Wren was using blind reads, but
not blind writes.  Apples software was using both.  This was only at the
Finder level.  As soon as I went into an application to test, the 16.5ms
CDC Wren beat out the 28ms Quantum 280. (Note the Quantum 280 is the old
5.25 in drive, not the new 3.5 in Quantum Prodrive).

Has anybody seen a report that compares driver software, or are they all
close enough that it does not matter??

Why can't MacUser and MacWorld conduct meaningful reviews and comparisons?
PC Magazine and Tech Journal provide reasonable information to their
readers, why not in the mac world?  Macintouch and Connections Magazine
seem to be the only place to find any technical info (besides the net
of course). 

While I'm on the subject of performance, has anybody tested the various
Ethernet cards, what about 9600 baud modems? (I usually read the PC magazines
for a peripheral such as this).

Joe liemandt
liemandt@jessica.stanford.edu