CompuServe Messages

New 325 MB removable erasable optical disk drive One of my clients will be introducing an erasable and removable optical disk with 325 megabytes per side (total of 650 per disk) with 28 millisecond access speed sometime during the first quarter of next year (1989). The drive will have a SCSI interface and work with IBM, Macintosh, and Sun computers. I would value your feedback on some of the questions I have on how you would like to see this removable erasable optical disk introduced. The erasable removable optical disk drive will have a half-high 5 1/4-inch form factor, so you could slip it into your IBM AT underneath the floppy drive. In a subsustem you could have two of these 325 megabyte drives in the same subsystem, or one erasable optical disk and a second half-high Winchester or 1/4-inch tape cartridge drive. The cost of the drive is still up for discussion, but most likely will be in the $3500 to $5,995 at the retail level. (Please give me your thoughts on the price.) The cost of the removable optical disks themselves will be a function of the volume but the best guess now is that they will fall somewhere between $100 and $250 per 650 megabyte cartridge (325 MB per side). One of the things I would most like to know is how you would rate the value of mass storage as a function of size and access speed. For example, how would you rank in desirability the following full-high 5 1/4-inch mass storage subsystem, assuming that they are all selling for the same price, and that the optical disks are erasable (that is to say) they ain't WORM drives and they ain't CD-ROMs? Assume that the subsystems are all the same price and that the disks have the same access speed. ___ 380 MB Full high Fixed Winchester hard disk ___ 650 MB Full high Fixed Winchester hard disk ___ Single160 MB Half high Fixed Winchester hard disk ___ 160 MB Half high Fixed Winchester hard disk with 1/4-inch tape drive ___ 160 MB Half high Fixed Winchester hard disk with 325 MB Half-high removable optical disk drives ___ Single 325 MB Half-high removable optical disk drives ___ Dual 325 MB Half-high removable optical disk drives ___ 325 MB Half-high removable optical disk drive with 1/4-inch tape drive ___ 650 MB Full high dual-sided, full high removable optical disk drive ___ 650 MB Full high dual-sided, full high non-removable optical disk drive If you're not too out of breath answering these for me, and you have just a little more time, tell me how you would rank them if everything stayed the same except the Winchester hard disks increased in average access speed from 28 to 16 milliseconds. And for your last question, how would you rank them if the Fixed Winchesters were removable~but remember, the entire drive would come out of the subsystem. You would not be able to slip 650 MB into your sports coat pocket like you could with an optical disk. I would appreciate any comments. I'd also appreciate it if you could tell me what computer you now use and how you use it.