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From: brewer@clio.las.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Need info on Mac MIDI and Jasmine
Message-ID: <17000117@clio>
Date: 9 Jul 88 20:27:00 GMT
References: <127200033@inmet>
Lines: 91
Nf-ID: #R:inmet:127200033:clio:17000117:000:6008
Nf-From: clio.las.uiuc.edu!brewer    Jul  9 15:27:00 1988


	Okay, here goes. The Cirrus is a good drive hardware wise. The Cirrus
has gotten good marks all around for their small size, nice case, and excelent
worksmanship. The LaCie 80 has the fastest access time of any external I have
seen (18 ms). It uses the Quantum drive, with their special DisCache buffer
(64K of RAM that caches each track as it is read). All in is a good drive in
most physical respects (except that you have to rip it open to change the SCSI
address).

	The problems occur with the driver software. In general, it looks prettyslick, with multiple, automount, password-protectable partitions, that can be
accessed from a DA. BUT, there is a _MAJOR_ fatal flaw in their driver. If for
any reason you are forced to do a 'dirty' restart (like hitting the programmers
switch, or pulling the plug) it trashes the disk directory. Your drive will not
boot after a 'dirty' restart. Actually it turns out that the directory can be
repaired, with a little know-how. That reminds me, I should mention that the
drive came with one badly photocopied sheet of paper that basically said "Plug
'er in, and let 'er rip!" Apparently the documentation is being reprinted or
somesuch, and will be sent to all people when ready.

	For any other Cirrus 80 people out there who don't know the repair
method, here it is. Boot with your working copy of the SilverLining software
(you did make a copy of that disk the second you got it in your hand, didn't
you?) You should probably make SilverLining the startup application to speed
things up, but that isn't required. Once in SilverLining, click the "Vol.
Manager" button. You will see a list of all your logical volumes (probably one
big one unless you figured out how to make others). Click on the "Mount" button
next to whichever drive is your boot drive. That button should now be
checkmarked. Now click on "OK". There will be a pause. Then you will get a
dialog and a beep saying "Bad directory on volume _____. Do you want to
initialize it?" And the "OK" button is the _DEFAULT_!!!!! Whoever programmed
this piece of software from hell ought to be taken out and shot! I mean its bad
enough that a naive user has to deal with the Finder telling him the volume is
damaged, and does he want to initalize it, but actually making initialize the
default is nothing short of pure unadulterated stupidity and/or sadism. By now
you should realize that you want to click "Cancel". Now the #%@*$ program
cutely gives you a dialog that says "Volume header info seems bad. Want to try
alternate header info?" ARRRRRGGGGG!!! Think of all the people who will
initialize their drives and never see this message! You click on "OK" here, and
then you get an alert telling you that you should use Disk First Aid to fix the
free block count if this works. Don't worry, it (apparently) works every time.
Then it will give you the original "Do you want to initalize this drive?" dialogagain, as though the fix didn't work. Say "Cancel". Then say cancel to the
repair dialog. Then get out of the Godforsaken program and get back to the
Finder with the Quit menu item.

	Now, run the Disk First Aid that is also on the
SilverLining disk. When DFA asks you if you want to repair it, say yes.

	Now there is one more thing you have got to do. You have to re-bless
the System Folder on your hard disk. When you are back in the Finder, your hard
disk will be there. Open it up, and then open your System Folder. Did you
notice that it didn't have that funny little mini System icon on it? That means
it isn't blessed (translation : the Finder doesn't know its the System Folder).
Now drag the Finder out onto the desktop, or just somewhere out of the System
Folder. Then drag it back in. Close the System Folder. The little icon should
now be back on your System Folder. Thats it! Your drive is now it tip-top
condition.

	After having done this about 15-20 times, I have gotten it down so that
I can do it in almost exactly 2 minutes. Believe me, it is not a pleasant
experience knowing that if you hit the wrong button or accidently hit return at
the wrong time it will totally erase your drive. Oh yeah, also, if you hold downthe Command key when you enter the SilverLining software, it will ask you if youwant to scavange for volumes. "Wow," I thought, "someone was smart enough to 
realize that this problem existed, and so they built in this little trick." So,
being the bold adventurer that I am, I said OK. ARRRRGGGGG!!! Apparently in
SilverLining, "scavenge for volumes" means find all volumes and initialize them!!! So much for intelligence...

	So, the drive is good (so is the neat little carring case for that
matter), but the software SUCKS. I have yet to receive a manual, or the promisedSilverServer software (makes drives mountable over a serial connection), a $149
value. The end result is that it is somewhat scarry using the drive, because
you never can tell when some PD software is going to bite and force me to use
the programmers switch.

	LaCie's tech support says that they know about the problem and they're
working on it, but they say they can't reproduce it!! All you have to do is hit
the reset switch for crying out loud!

	And to add insult to injury, I have zero technical documentation on the
drive so I can't use any of the generic SCSI drivers (SF&I comes to mind)
because I don't know anything about the drive!!

	In summary, I wouldn't buy a LaCie right now, as you are bound to have
problems and frustrations. But, being naive and optimistic, I hope someday LaCiewill fix their driver, send me my manual and SilverServer software, and all willbe right in the world (until I fill up the 80 megs, of course).

	Oops, forgot to say that these experiences are with the Cirrus 80 drive
from LaCie, on my Mac II. LaCie says the problem is with the disk cache, and
so only occurs with the 80 Meg model, but I would trust them about as far as I
can throw them.


Robert Brewer
    brewer@clio.las.uiuc.edu
    {ihnp4 | convex | pur-ee}!uiucuxc!clio!brewer