#HD Hell
11 messages in this thread
My GVP A500HD was screwing up for a while. I was waiting to get AmiBack, n the
interim the HD got worse. Lately the sys was telling me it wasn't a DOS disk.
I tried to re-format the HD, and was told it couldn't format one particular
portion. When I tried to use HD install I get the message that DH0A is not a
DOS disk. At a guess there is something more wrong than the data. Any ideas?
GVP's tech support is off line for a few weeks. Meanwhile I lost Auto
Pilot…does any one know if I can get AP without having to re-register/ pay?
Since this HD problem I have been seriously considering a SyQuest unit, in
particular the one which can R/W to both the 44mg and the 88mg. Any one out
there with experience with this SyQuest unit?
Hey, you just reminded me…think I'll go back up my hard drive.
-Vree
54 days without a 2.04
Hi Lewis,
I've been using the Syquest 44 MB for years and have been happy with that
purchase… I have no experience with the model that can read both 44 & 88 MB
disks.
The nice thing about them is that if I run into disk surface errors (that
can't be fixed by re-allocating the Bad Blocks) I can simply pop in a new disk
to use.
What I don't like about the 44 MB is that it's really too small for me. I'd
like a removable that was closer to a GB in size.
– Dave
Lewis,
SyQuest has just released a newer removable media drive that is 3.5" form
factor and holds 270MB per cartridge. Sounds good, but some here have
mentioned they'd heard that it works only for MACS. I don't know if this
is so, I want to get one, but in this state a muffler on your car is a
requirement so my spare $$$ went to a new exhaust system instead. 🙁
Here are several numbers I've compiled over the years of using a SyQuest
drive. You might want to ask for George Wong in Tech Support and ask him
if the new 270MB removable will work with the Amiga. I don't see why it
wouldn't if it follows the SCSI standards.
SyQuest's BBS 510-656-0473
SyQuest Main 510-226-4150
FAX 510-226-4100
510-490-7511
4161
4131
tech support 510-226-4127
George Wong 510-226-4134
Christopher
Thanks, Once the "smoke"settles with my GVP I'll go one line with them.
So much money for something so unreliable is tough to justify. Be
awfully careful unless you don't mind loosing what you save and have
deep pockets. The price of media is phenominal.
What are you taking about? Have you info on the 270MB Syquest? The
price of media from MACwarehouse for the 270 is less than for the 88
or 44MB carts.
Syquests are nothing but trouble, extremely high media failure. Don't
use them for anything you want to keep. The only reason they are
bought now isbecause someone doesn't know what a piece of junk it is
or if they HAVE to use them because that's what your service bureau
requires.
Bernoulli 150s are bullet proof (you can throw them out a 3 story
window) and they are a better value.
128 MO is the next consideration, cheaper media but slower. The 223+
MOs look very interesting, just being released this week.
Buying more and bigger drives is still the fastest and cheapest
though.
Paul,
I've owned and used the 44MB SyQuests for around 4 years now, yes
I've returned one drive to GVP and updated it again through SyQuest
directly. Both the Amiga and MAC I have here both have the
mechanisms, the ami two of 'em. I prolly have around 25 of the
cartridges and none have failed on me. Oh one had trouble, couldn't
format it on either the MAC or Amiga, the little green LED kept
winking off and on at me. Finally one day I tried running it in the
MAC and using HDTools on it and it low-leveled the cart. It works
fine now.
SyQuest tech support has always been extremely helpful when I call
them. I was originally told to return the cart to them and they would
fix it. The tech support guy told me that there wasn't any problem
with the cart, that it wasn't "BAD". He was right, he didn't tell me
what he intended on doing, I didn't ask either. Prolly thought the
procedure was over my head or that hardware wouldn't handle it.
<shrug>
So I take offense to the statement you made that "Syquests are nothing
but trouble, extremely high media failure…", if you have a need to
hurl disk media out of 3 story windows, fine, just don't use mine.
<grin> Besides I think the Bernoulli 150 is not "bullet-proof", send
me one of yours something on it of high value, I'll take a poke at it
with my .45 auto and return it to you. <grin>
Ok, I take back bullet proof 🙂
What I meant was that relative failure rate of Syquest vs. Bernoulli. The
only real fact is the numbers. For every one Bernoulli failure there are
1500 Syquest failures. You're right, I shouldn't have been vague. Most
Syquest users will not see a problem, but Bernoulli cartridges CANNOT get
read/write errors from a crash because it's different technology. So it is
relative. My friend who gets the bad carts from work only sees 300 hundred
bad ones on his desk and gets discouraged but his company has 2500
Syquests installed.
Since the new machines have Bernoullis he hasn't seen a single bad disk.
Thanks for keeping me honest 🙂
–Paul < Motorola Inside >
Paul,
I would think with a base of 2500 SyQuest drives installed it tells me
there are lots of employees using them. 🙂
So that also makes me think a lot of these employees are not using them
properly, shutting off the computer before the cart spools down or during
writes, maybe ejecting the carts before heads get parked or while still
spooling down. I'd look at the operation of the equipment before place the
blame. If everyone working on them is innocent of abuse, then I'd be upset
too.
Perhaps it is also time for your friend's company to start begin a
(re-)education program on the proper use and care of removable media
devices.
I'd also examine the firmware version of each unit. With such a large
installed base I'd guess some are early versions. I've heard these have
some problems. It would be best to upgrade those to the latest revision.
I haven't had the pleasure of using a Bernoulli. They sound nice. If I
didn't have a large investment carts I might have considered it but the
Bernoulli was more $$$ when I bought my first SyQ.
Christopher