88MB SYQUEST! STR InfoFile? 88mb removable-cartridge hard disks ============ SYQUEST "88" TO DEBUT! ======================= SyQuest removable-cartridge hard disks, for three years a fixture among desktop publishers, multimedia developers and others who need to transport or archive large files, will soon grow to double their current capacity. SyQuest Technology, developer of the expandable storage system, this week will announce a new generation of its drives and double-density cartridges, which together will be capable of storing up to 88 Mbytes of data per cartridge. Called the SQ5110, the new mechanism is slated to ship in limited quantities early in the second quarter and in volume in June. At least three leading Macintosh storage vendors - Mass Microsystems Inc., MicroNet Technologies Inc. and Peripheral Land Inc.- plan to release systems based on the enhanced technology as soon as it is available. All three vendors apparently plan to price their drives at about $1,800, with extra high-density cartridges at $200 to $250. The new drives will read but not write the 44-Mbyte SyQuest format. The current SQ555 mechanism, of which the company sold 150,000 last year, will remain in production for the foreseeable future. Described by SyQuest officials as an "evolutionary" product, the SQ5110 will deliver the same 20-millisecond average seek time as recent versions of the lower-capacity drives. Overall performance, however, will be improved 25 percent to 30 percent, according to the company, by a new 32-Kbyte buffer and better buffer-management techniques. The new models also should prove more reliable than their predecessors. SyQuest rates the SQ5110 at 60,000 hours MTBF (mean time between failure), compared with 30,000 for the current model. Among vendors announcing support for the SQ5110, Mass Microsystems of Sunnyvale, Calif., said it plans five configurations under the DataPak 88 name, including two dual-drive versions and three footprints matching various Mac cases. The company said single-drive models will be priced "below $2000" and its preformatted DataCart 88 cartridges will retail for less than $200. MicroNet Technologies of Irvine, Calif., plans to list its drive, the MR-90, at $1,795; extra cartridges will be $238. Peripheral Land of Fremont, Calif., said its entry, the Infinity 88 Turbo, will be priced "below $1,800." The company also plans to offer an optional SCSI-2 card in a bundle with the drive. For now, SyQuest said, it will offer the SQ5110 only to selected OEM customers, not to distributors. The policy, while it lasts, is likely to keep prices relatively firm. The 44-Mbyte drives, introduced three years ago at the same $1,800 retail level, are now available from direct-sales outlets for as little as $500. This week's announcement represents a major challenge to Iomega Corp. of Roy, Utah, SyQuest's chief competitor in the Mac removable-storage market. Iomega offers 42-Mbyte Bernoulli cartridges in several configura- tions. Officials said the company is working on products with the same capacity as the new SyQuest that will be announced later this year "when fully tested and ready to ship into the channel". The 88-Mbyte drives will also bring SyQuest into competition with the 3.5-inch, 128-Mbyte erasable optical systems, which several companies are now shipping in limited volume. SyQuest officials claimed their drive, although its capacity is lower, will deliver three times the performance of the opticals at not much more than half the price. _____________________________________________________________ Question from Marc Lacombe on CIS (slightly edited)... ...I am thinking of buying...a Syquest 44mb removable hard drive...can it could also be used on an IBM?...If I buy an IBM in a few years, it would be nice to know that my Atari hard drive could do double duty. Answer from Bob Retelle (Sysop) on CIS... ...most hard drive mechanisms, including the SyQuest can be easily ins- talled in an IBM style system. All you need is a compatible controller card and you're in business! Answer from Bob Brodie (Atari User Group Co-Ordinator) on CIS... The heart and soul of the Syquest is a true SCSI device. Just unplug it from the host adapter that it's connected to, and your ready to rock and roll. You can use it on a Mac, you can use it on an Amiga, you can use it on an IBM, you can use it on ANYTHING that understands SCSI or can interpret SCSI. ---------------- Question from Kurt Schmidt on Genie... Has anyone...any information as to how to upgrade my Megafile 30 drive to a higher capacity drive? Do I need SCSI or MFM or ??? Plus, if I do upgrade, what HD driver do I use to format with? The one that came with the Megafile will only format 30, 45, or 60 Mb. Any help would be appreciated. Answer from Doug Wheeler (ICD) on Genie... ...The Megafile 30 has an integrated host adapter and RLL controller. Unless you plan on doing a LOT of soldering, you can only replace the drive with another RLL drive (which works great). If you do this, you will have to play with Atari's WINCAP file to add the information for the drive you install (unless it happens to be one Atari uses in one of their other drives). The controller in the Megafile 30 is a modified Adaptec 4070 which can handle 1:1 interleave (the real Adaptec can't)... if you have already formatted your Megafile 30 with Atari's software then it is already 1:1 interleaved. If you used Supra's or ICD's soft- ware you would have had to explicitly specify 1:1 interleave. ------------------