Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!ubc-vision!fornax!sfu_dipper!mcdonald From: mcdonald@sfu_dipper.cs.sfu Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: CMS Experiences Message-ID: <57900016@sfu_dipper> Date: 12 Dec 87 08:38:00 GMT Lines: 71 Nf-ID: #N:sfu_dipper:57900016:000:4299 Nf-From: sfu_dipper.cs.sfu!mcdonald Dec 12 00:38:00 1987 First of all, for those people who don't like to spend a great deal of time reading notes, I will summarize this one--STAY AWAY FROM CMS. Now in more detail . . . Some time ago I was investigating drives for use with the Mac II, and called one distributor for info and pricing on the CMS pro-40 internal. Well, surprise, they had a pro-60 in stock, which was an overstock item, and they sold it to me for $975US, less than their price for the 40 meg drive. Stupidest purchase I ever made. Now where shall I start . . . there were so MANY things wrong with this product. Well, first of all, CMS has what I consider a very strange warranty. They guarantee their drives for one year, not from the time you purchase the drive, but from the time they ship it. If it happens to sit on a dealer's shelf for a few months, well, tough. Secondly, the drive as shipped and according to instructions could not be securely mounted in the Mac II! The screws provided were too long, and their stems hit the drive case before they could be tightened. I called CMS, and was told that a new bracket had been developed and would be shipped to me right away. OK, said I, at the time, but I should really have clued in right at the time--this drive design had obviously NEVER UNDERGONE AN ACTUAL TEST as to its fitness for use in the Mac II, otherwise such a ridiculous error would never have got out of the factory. Anyways, the tech I talked to told me to use the drive as was, until the bracket arrived. Stupid error number two on my part, I listened to him. When the bracket came, and I took the drive out to install it, I found that vibration from the drive had caused three of the four mounting screws to loosen to the point where they had almost come out--one dropped off as I was taking the drive out. Another day and they would have been rolling around on my circuit board, and I have a feeling CMS would have refused responsibility for any damages. Then there was the software. The software provided with the drive had a default interleave setting of 4:1 for the Mac II--and WOULD NOT ALLOW THIS SETTING TO BE CHANGED. I called CMS and complained, and they sent out a newer version of the software which corrected this, but it still turned out that the fastest interleave on this model was 2:1, which did not make me at all happy. As well, the drive had a very noticeable high-frequency vibration, which was strong enough to cause smokelike wavering patterns on my AppleColour Monitor. I have encountered another CMS 60 meg drive, an external, which had a similar amount of vibration. (FYI the internal is a Seagate 277, and I assume the external is the same.) In any case, this amount of vibration was not at all suitable for an internal drive. Another lapse in testing. When I called CMS to complain, they said that there was no point in sending me another drive, I might have the same problem again. Wonderful. Finally, though I did not realize it at the time, the drive dropped sectors with clockwork regularity. Six or more sectors in the three weeks of infrequent use I gave it, no bumps, no jostles. This was enough, I had put up with this monster for far too long, and I wanted to get rid of it. The company I had bought it from was acting rather antsy about giving me an actual refund (very strong repair or replace policy), so I considered going to a CMS 80 meg. I called CMS to find out what the base drive in the 80 was (I didn't want anymore Seagates) and was told, quote, "Well if you want to know that, you'll have to buy one, won't you?" OK, enough, I called the distributor and ranted and raved (for about a week), until they agreed to give me my money back. The whole episode cost me about $150-200 (Cdn) in phone bills, shipping costs, and so forth, plus a huge chunk of my time. I do not want, ever, to have anything to do with CMS again. They produced a poor quality product which, as evinced by the lack of a mounting bracket and the ridiculous initialization software, was given virtually no testing before being put on the market. If you want good quality for your money, then I would advise STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. I myself plan to purchase a Jasmine inner 50, after cooling down over Christmas. Hope the above info is of use. K. McDonald