08/1997
Path: rcfnews.cs.umass.edu!barrett From: rkruszka@carroll1.cc.edu (Randy Kruszka) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: SyQuest SQ3270S removable media drive Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Date: 21 Feb 1995 16:54:28 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 252 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <3id5s4$ieu@kernighan.cs.umass.edu> Reply-To: rkruszka@carroll1.cc.edu (Randy Kruszka) NNTP-Posting-Host: hobbes.cs.umass.edu Keywords: hardware, disk, removable media, commercial Originator: barrett@hobbes.cs.umass.edu PRODUCT NAME SyQuest SQ3270S - ROM 1.21 (in A4000), and 1.19 (in A3000). BRIEF DESCRIPTION A 270MB (255MB formatted) 3.5" Cartridge [cart] Disk Drive [CDD]. It fits into a standard 3.5" LP (1" high) drive bay. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: SyQuest Technology Address: 47071 Bayside Parkway Fremont, CA 94538-6517 Telephone: (800) 245-CART or (510)226-4000 in USA, 32-11-673140 in Europe 65-294-8484 in Asia. FAX: (510)226-4102 in USA 32-11-683525 in Europe 65-294-7277 in Asia LIST PRICE I'm not sure what the list price is, but I paid $430 (US) in July 1994. They have dropped to $395 (US) as of February 1995. At this time, cartridges are as low as $60 (US). SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE Any auto-mounting SCSI Host Bus Interface [SHBI] should be able to use this drive, but check with the manufacturer if you are uncertain. You need enough RAM to mount each partition, but that is it for memory requirements. I can't see anyone running into problems unless you have several partitions and a small amount of RAM available. No minimum CPU is required, although I assume a 68000 will reduce transfer speeds. SOFTWARE SHBIs that do not auto-mount will need some type of mounting software such as SCSIMounter, which is available on aminet and mirror sites. There is no minimum AmigaDOS version that I am aware of. With Workbench 1.3 you will probably have to make your own mountlist. I would upgrade! :) It works great with both Amigas listed below under "MACHINES USED FOR TESTING." COPY PROTECTION Not applicable. MACHINES USED FOR TESTING Amiga 4000/040-25MHz, 2MB of Chip RAM and 8MB of Fast RAM. 1 internal 1.76MB floppy drive. Original (Commodore-issued) 124MB Seagate hard drive. GVP's IO/Expander (2 serial and 1 parallel port). Emplant Deluxe. FFS-International used for all hard drives. AmigaDOS 3.0. Amiga 3000/030-25MHz, 2MB of Chip RAM and 8MB of Fast RAM. 1 internal 880KB floppy drive. Original (C= Issued) 52MB Quantum hard drive and SHBI. FFS-International used for all hard drives. AmigaDOS 2.1 INSTALLATION I put it in the 5.25" drive bay with a 5.25" adaptor, since my 1.76MB floppy drive from Commodore is greater than the standard 1" height. It will fit in the 3.5" drive bay if you have the smaller floppy drive. (Which I plan to get when I get a CD-ROM someday.) In that case, I would recommend putting it in the top 3.5" slot since it generates more heat than the floppy does. The drive my A3000 friend bought was an external version, so all we had to do was plug it in the external SCSI connector, put the terminator block on, and away we went. If you don't have room to install it internally or would rather not open up your computer, this is the easiest route. OPERATION Loading a cartridge is pretty simple. After opening up the cartridge's case, you insert the cartridge and move the lever to the right. The disk spins up and then aligns itself. Once the LED changes from amber to green, you are ready to roll. To remove a cartridge, press the button and wait for the disk to spin back down. The load lever will pop to the left slightly and after you push it all the way left, you can remove the cartridge and put in another. The manual cautions against leaving the cartridge in when the computer is off, but when I called SyQuest they said that most of the users do anyway. The head parks so I assume it's safe, but this is at your own risk of course! PERFORMANCE On my A4000, I'm using the SHBI built into the Emplant board, which is known not to be fast unless it is being accessed directly from the emulator itself. Using DiskSpeed 4.2, I was able to get about 600KB/s reads, and 700KB/s writes. On the A3000 (known for 4.5MB/s), we were able to get 2MB/s reads! On the Internet, I have read that 1.7MB/s reads are typical. We were not able to test writes since my friend did not have an empty cartridge at the time. Most of the time you are reading data anyway, so this is not as important. (Or so I say!) I will be able to provide more data once we get more cartridges and a faster interface for my A4000. DURABILITY I have not tested them, but as long as you keep the cartridges in their holder, they are pretty safe. They can be mailed this way without any extra padding. SIZE The cartridge itself is (approximately) 3.75" wide X 3/16" high X 3.75" long. For most of the world ;), that is 9.5 cm wide X 1 cm high X 9.5 cm long. Practically speaking, it is about as big as a 3.5" floppy and as high as three floppies stacked on top of each other. I wonder why they call them 3.5" cartridges since they really aren't! Capacity wise, it is read/write (but not format) compatible with the 105MB cartridges as well. NOISE It is very quiet compared to my Seagate hard drive, and I don't notice the extra noise it makes until the head moves around. The SyQuest also spins up almost 25% faster than my Seagate hard drive. DOCUMENTATION Documentation provided will depend on which drive you get. The external version had a different instruction manual, while my internal version documentation came right from SyQuest. The documentation is well written. It has pictures which help you configure the right SCSI unit number, and it shows where the termination resistors are. There is a help section on formatting for an IBM, but of course you won't need that! I think that beginners could install this drive if they felt comfortable opening up their computer. In the A4000, you have to remove the front panel to pull out the drive bays, which is the hardest part. LIKES Oh yes! Besides being nice and small, your expandability is limited only by the number of cartridges you buy. You can take up to 255MB by a friend's house with only one cartridge, or mail quite a bit at once. It is faster than optical media and the physically larger & more expensive 5.25" models. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS The only thing I thought would be nice to improve on is the LED. When the disk is idling, the green light stays on. When you read/write, it changes to amber. Maybe I'm just used to the regular hard drive light which stays off until you use it. The manual is missing the sentence "Call for a RMA# [Return Materials Authorization Number] before returning anything to us." These are minor problems I'd say. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS SyQuest makes a 5.25" version which is reported to be more of a standard. If you have a user-group that uses the 5.25" CDD and the 44 & 88MB cartridges, you may want to go this route. If you are just starting up for yourself or with a friend and don't intend on trading with the majority of MAC and IBM systems, I'd go with this drive. IoMega makes a 5.25" CDD as well, but again it is bigger physically. I'm not sure about transfer speed, as their newest 230 MB version is faster than previous models. BUGS There aren't any bugs that I know of. VENDOR SUPPORT I did get one cartridge which formatted very slowly about 1/2 way through the process. I tried a low level format on it, and after a 1/2 hour I gave up. I returned the cartridge to SyQuest, and 2 weeks later I called to find out that I needed an RMA#. A week later I called and found out that the guy who helped me was let go (!) because he was doing a poor job. As soon as they discovered my delay, I received a new cartridge the next day. I would expect their normal service to be prompt. Be sure to get an RMA# first! WARRANTY I found out later that their standard warranty lasts 2 years on the drive and 5 years on the cartridge itself, but that it may vary with the vendor -- and all returns should be done through them. This obviously reduces SyQuest's shipping costs, as they don't have to mail the fixes out separately. The warranty is not transferable so I'd make sure that your source is reliable before buying anything used. (Cartridges are a good example.) CONCLUSIONS This CDD is a nice addition to your computer if you are looking to add removable expandability. It is faster than both Commodore drives, fits in a standard 3.5" drive bay, and has a low $/MB ratio. I give the drive a 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone looking for a magnetic CDD. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1995 Randy Kruszka. All rights reserved. rkruszka@carroll1.cc.edu --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews