CompuServe Messages

d "<–>" g, << I figure that a 1G external SCSI drive should give me everything I need. Have you had any experience with these drives and which brands are the best?>> Nope. <<How much slower?>> Ohhhh, about thiiiiis much. <<What is the transfer rate compared to a hard disk?>> From the manual: ZCAV FORMAT SEEK TIME (includes head setting time) AVERAGE 35 msec TRACK-TO-TRACK 1 msec MAXIMUM 70 msec LATENCY (average) 13.6 msec (2,200 rpm) TRANSFER RATE FROM/TO DISK 10 Mbits/sec Average (6.78 – 13.17 Mbits/sec) AT SCSI (async), Maximum 1.5 Mbytes/sec AT SCSI (Sync), Maximum 4 Mbytes/sec ————————————- Transfer speed is noticably slower, but for backups or storage, who cares? Its faster than tape, and far more reliable. I used DC2120 QIC for all backups for over a year, and lost several files due to read/write errors. I finally started copying all important files to floppies just to be sure I'd have them if they disappeared from tape. Since I got the optical drive, I haven't lost a single file (that I know of). Its painfully slow when copying and verifying lots of files, such as complete directories, but its easy to plan a little nap time around such events. <<How does this compare to DAT?>> Don't know. The glass media is good for 1 million rewrites and guaranteed stable for 30 years minimum. I don't recall what the shelf life or stability for tape is, but I know its much shorter, by decades. I haven't priced optical drives or media in awhile, but when I got this stuff it was less than $3,000 for the drive, the SCSI card, the drivers, and 5 GB of rewritable storage, and I haven't filled up all of the disks yet. Much of what I thought was going to be precious wasn't after all, so it got overwritten. <<I need to be able to transport quite a lot of files to other companies so I want something that is going to be robust and compatible with the majority of bureaus.>> Sure. Most of the bureaus around here use SyQuest and are Mac shops, so not much of the hardware I use is compatible with theirs anyway. Methinks your gonna have to make a decision between what's more important: compatibility with the shops you work with most, or maximizing your storage space. Those recordable CD's are interesting if you want to immortalize your files. I think they're relatively cheap, and CD-ROM drives are common enough that you shouldn't have much problem finding one on a network in nearly every bureau. I don't believe they're rewritable, so you gotta get it right, and be proud of it, the first time you burn that disk. Too ridgid for me. I always leave plenty of room for improvement, and most of the time, it shows! <<So how are things going with your models? Are you going to impress my socks off with some models in the next showcase forum?>> I doubt it. I'm back in the corporate flow again now that the reorg has settled in. One of my first new fun "duties" is to surf the net and locate references to sustainable architecture (whoopie…). I haven't been there yet, so when the ISDN line gets here, I'm sure I'll go away for awhile. I'm still plugging away on a few fun 3DS projects, but none are near completion, and as you know, I'm in no hurry to finish them. How 'bout you, laddie? Did you ever get your UL problem fixed? Keep them cards and letters coming …B.