Syquest Drives
15 messages in this thread
Can anyone tell me how reliable/effective Syquest removable drives are??
I'm looking into buying one, and need to know what they're like. Does
anyone have a Syquest that can tell me praises/flames about it? Thanks.
Simon–
SyQuest drives have never let me down – I use them on a friend's machine,
and have two (one on an A3000, the other on a MacIIcx) at work. For the
price, they cannot be beat…although, care should be taken handling the
carts.
Jonathan
– via Whap!
Where did you get yours?? I was looking at Briwall's prices, and they seem
very reasonable. A lot cheaper down there in the States than up here in
Canada, that is fer sure.
Simon
Simon–
For SyQuest a good price, with technical expertise and good return policy,
try APS. You can find them in any issue of the Computer Shopper, as well
as most Mac magazines. They usually have one of the best prices, and their
service and expertise is top notch. Plus, everything comes with a one
year warranty, including cartridges!! They are substantially cheaper than
Briwall, both for the raw drive and for carts…highly recommended!
Incidentally, raw drives tend to go for around $350-$375 from them;
not sure if that includes the cart. For around $450, however, they will
do an external version (for the Mac) with one cart and cable…nice unit,
has selectable SCSI ID#, etc. Probably worth the extra bucks, especially
if you have a 3000.
Jonathan
Thanks for the info, Johnathan. Any company with good prices and service
together should be looked into! I'm assuming they will ship to Canada for
less than an arm and a leg…
Simon
I am currently using ETC 88mb removable & it works fine on my A3000. Its
pretty easy to hook it up & also pretty reliable as of now. I bought it
straight from ETC for $599 including one cartilidge.<- You can look at the
ad on MAC magazines… Speed is so so, but its awfully noisy compared to
any HD. I recommend getting 88mb if you are not doing DTP, its cost
effective.
Also, most of these removable (either 44/88mb) are all same syquest inside
& only difference is external shell that each company makes, so most likely
performance is not going to differ.
– THANX R.SATOH ->via Whap!
Thanks, I'll look into ETC. I take it the 88 MB carts aren't compatible
with the 44 MB drives and vice versa??
Simon
MacUser or MacWorld did a comparison of various 88mb removable cartridge
drives a few issues back and the ETC 88mb drive came out ahead in almost
all categories in terms of price/performance, durability, speed, etc.
They seem to be the way to go. The syquest engines are all the same, but
apparently there is still alot of variation possible among different
cartridge makers.
MC
Miguel,
what about drivers? I remember reading somewhere that although the
hardware is basically the same (SCSI "standard" and all that) one important
difference between various Amiga suppliers was the driver furnished with
the disk. If so, then how can you buy from an IBM or Mac vendor and have
the drive work on your Amiga? This question comes from someone whose only
Syquest knowledge comes from magazine articles and CompuServe messages, and
such a specific topic never came up in detail. Enlightenment, anyone?
Blaq! – via Whap!
A Syquest drive will not need any special drivers. The installation
program for most HD controllers will help you setup and format the drive
properly. Most controllers also handle the diskchange when you swap carts.
The same driver works for all HDs on the SCSI bus. Tape drives is another
issue.
Just get the drive and hook it up. The hardwre connection is the only
tricky part and that is no big deal either. I have used a Syquest with a
GVP, A2091 and the built in controller with an A3000 with no problems.
….Mark Sterling 74335,1677
Mark,
you're right, now it comes back to me — I meant to address the issue of
drivers for _tape drives_. Now that we've got our wires un-crossed, can
anyone comment on buying cheap IBM tape drives for the Amiga?
Blaq! – via Whap!
Charles,
Re: Cheap IBM tape drives for the Amiga. Forget it. The drives you speak
of use either the floppy controller or a IBM specific controller card. They
don't work with Amigas. If it was easy I suspect it would have been done by
now but is has not.
SCSI tape drives are more expensive but they are faster. Moonlighter
software has been selling Archive SCSI drives that are used for about $350.
A new drive will start at just under $500. This is for internal. External
will cost more.
Software available is Tapestor from GVP, MRBackup from TTR Development
and Amiback from Moonlighter. I apologize to others I missed. There are
some PD/Shareware software options available here and on other BBSs. The
"driver" is really the handler as it uses whatever SCSI driver your
controller uses. Amiback doesn't even use a handler as it talks to the
drive directly with SCSI-direct commands. You can even use BRU which comes
with WB 2.0 but, well, good luck.
….Mark Sterling 74335,1677
I'm pretty sure that when it comes to syquests and hard drives,
drivers are not an issue. I say this because I've yet to hear of a
specific syquest driver for the Amiga and because I have an 80 meg Apple HD
in my Amiga. No problem whatsoever.
I think tape drives ARE different, though. And CD-ROMS.
MC
Yep thats the one that gave me go ahead to buy ETC. The problem was its
user support, but these thing does come with one year warranty + I bought
it through MAC & More inc. which gave me a Return money back garranty.
Except for a korny pink label I like it!
– THANX R.SATOH ->via Whap!