<Someone should correct me if I'm wrong (I'd be interested in knowing that
<I'm wrong!), but the largest capacity MFM geometry is that of the Maxtor
<XT2190 (1024 cylinders * 15 heads), giving you just under 150 Mbytes (M=10*
<after formatting at 19 sectors/track. And the RLL version gets
<another 30% or so of capacity.
The 2190 is 1224*15. However the number of cylinders can be increased (it
was controller limit not the drive) the limit, I think is closer to
4096*16*18*512 or roughly over 600mb. The problem is that RLL with the
higher bit packing, and EDSI with the higher data rates put more data on
a square inch of media and make more sense than pushing the mechanics of
the drive.
<Of course, large embedded-controller SCSI drives are readily available on t
<surplus market these days. 9 Gbyte drives start below $150.00, and
<2 Gbyte drives seem to get around $40.
And they are small too!
Allison
Received on Wed May 26 1999 - 22:20:30 BST