Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!franny.Berkeley.EDU!c8s-an From: c8s-an@franny.Berkeley.EDU (Alex Lau) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: External 20mb hard drives...I need some quick advice Keywords: Mac+ needs a hard drive Message-ID: <17627@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> Date: 25 Sep 89 04:52:07 GMT References: <1989Sep23.111338.1450@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> Sender: news@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU Reply-To: c8s-an@franny.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Alex Lau) Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 37 In article <1989Sep23.111338.1450@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> heath@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Todd Heatherton) writes: >I have a mac+ with one 800K drive (I just bought it yesterday). I am >considering another 800K drive a 20mb external. Money is a key factor >in my decision (I'm a post-doc with limited funds). Can anyone give >me any quick advice on the cheaper hard drives (specifically the >PowerDrive Seagate from Hard Drives International $349 or the UniMac >20 mb for $399 or the Cutting edge 20 mb for about $429). If there >are problems with these cheaper hard drives I will probably get the >Cutting Edge 800K drive. >Thanks in advance >Todd Heatherton Department of Psychology University of Toronto Hate to tell you this, but all the hard drives you've picked above are not very reliable. I've had personal experience with Hard Drives International, and their service for Macintosh drives is S-L-O-W. Ehman is known here on the net for their fairly good service, but their failure rate is nothing short of spectacular; about 20% of the people I've talked to who've had dealings with Ehman hard drives have had their drives fail within 6 months of purchase. Cutting Edge is basically Ehman with a different hat on; they even have the same address. UniMac is just a company that makes cases, power supplies and formatting software, and they sell that package to outside dealers including Hard Drives International. If you can swing it, save up for at least $600 or so, in order to get a Quantum 40 meg drive. Much faster, much more reliable, much quieter (in general), and a longer warranty, unless you buy it from Apple Computer, in which case you tend to get a less reliable drive with a shorter warranty. :-) --- Alex UUCP: {att,backbones}!ucbvax!franny!c8s-an INTERNET: c8s-an%franny.berkeley.edu@ucbvax.berkeley.edu FIDONET: Alex.Lau@bmug.fidonet.org (1:161/444)