Daybreak hard drives (was Re: Collectibles for the future)

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Wed Nov 11 19:51:33 1998

"Seth J. Morabito" <sethm_at_loomcom.com> wrote:
> I personally wouldn't mind the ability to put a ZIP drive into a
> Full-height 5 1/4" enclosure which fools the winchester controller
> into believing it's talking to a 100MB fixed disk. It would be a much
> more complicated bridge than what you describe, however.

The technical impediment is that the bridge would have to actually decode
the channel code back into logical data (on writes from the host), and
vice versa. This is technically feasible and could be implemented in a
small FPGA. However, there isn't actually a standard for it. Not all
MFM controllers on PCs even use the same format, and generally they are
different from the DEC RQDX2, which is different from the RQDX3, etc.

Assuming that that problem is solved, the next problem is that an XT2190
(RD54) stores more data than will fit on a ZIP disk. When's Iomgega
going to introduce a 200M ZIP? Sony's HiFD is supposed to have 200M
capacity, but it isn't shipping yet.

But a 100M ZIP disk would make a perfectly fine RP06 replacement.

Just in case anyone here is thinking about using modern removable-rigid-media
drives, my advice is:

        DON'T.

Neither Syquest nor Iomega has any clue how to make high-density removable
rigid media work. Assuming that it is even possible, and I'm not convinced
it is.

I bought an Iomega Jaz drive soon after it was introduced. It worked well
enough for a few weeks that I bought four more for my other computers. But
sectors keep going bad, and one of the drives failed, physically damaging
the media. The other drives were able to reformat their media, but more
sectors just go bad eventually.

Syquest Syjet and Sparq drives are even worse. We tried to use them at
work, and they only last a few weeks before breaking. We've had to send
them in for replacement so many times that it is no wonder that Syquest has
gone bankrupt.

On the other hand, I've had nothing but good luck with ZIP drives (which
use floppy media). I think the problems with removable rigid media stem
from the lack of any effective measure to keep contamination out of the
drive and disk cartridge; they've tried to use Winchester drive technology
without understanding its inherent limitations.

Eric
Received on Wed Nov 11 1998 - 19:51:33 GMT