Re: Philips PCA80SC CD drive and IIGS

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

David Empson writes ...
> 
 ....
 
> I have two PowerMacs: the older one (7600) has
> a 4x drive, and the newer one (8600) has a 24x drive.  The 24x drive is
> _significantly_ slower than the 4x drive for access times, due to the
> spin-up time required.
> 
> Once it it up to speed, it is really fast, but the delay getting there
> is a real killer.
> 
 ....

     This seems to depend a lot upon the particular brand. When shopping
for a 24x drive for our PC a year ago, I spent a bit extra to get a
Toshiba drive. Supposedly, this was a really fast drive; but, it was
horrendously noisy-- a lot of wind sound during spin-up and play-- and
SLOW to get started. No doubt it transferred stuff like a wiz once it
got going-- trouble is my 6x drive would usually have started and done
the stupid file transfer while the fancy 24x was still blowing up to
speed.

     After a week or so, the Toshiba 24x was returned for a "BCD" brand
24x drive. The replacement drive works much better.

     One thing that would help get the most from faster drives is an
option to keep the thing spinning whether or not it is being accessed.
Evidently, though, there is worry that the drive's life would be
significantly shortened.



Rubywand