NeXT MO disks

From: Mark <mark_k_at_iname.com>
Date: Mon Feb 26 18:22:02 2001

Hi,

A question about MO disks and the Canon MO drive installed in some NeXT cube
computers.

I know NeXT MO disks are single-sided, commonly quoted as having a capacity of
256MB.

Canon used to make document imaging systems with built-in 500MB MO drives for
data storage. These used double-sided disks of around 250MB per side. They
also made the Diskfile 5001S, an external SCSI MO drive. The Diskfile 5001S
allowed data from the document imaging systems to be transferred to computer,
and also functioned as a general-purpose storage device.

I just received a Diskfile 5001S drive. Currently I do not have any disks for
this. Two disks will be sent to me eventually.

What I would like to know is: can the Diskfile 5001S (and Canofile document
imaging systems) read and/or write NeXT MO disks? Not at the file level of
course, but at the sector level.

Does anyone have a NeXT MO disk which I can borrow? I would like to see
whether the Diskfile 5001S can read it. Not having a NeXT computer, the
filesystem will not be recognised, but I could use a dd-like utility to
(hopefully) obtain an image file of all user sectors. I would keep the disk
write-protected. If you can help, please contact me by email. If the 5001S
drive is compatible with NeXT disks, it could be useful for people who have
NeXT disks but no working NeXT MO drive.


-- Mark
Received on Mon Feb 26 2001 - 18:22:02 GMT