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Technology Stocks : Disk Drive Sector Discussion Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Pierre-X who wrote (4675)	10/11/1998 3:07:00 PM
From: La Traguhs	Respond to of 9256

Pierre-X, The HiFD media, provided by Fuji and their ATOMM technology, can easily go to 400MB, and some will claim 600MB. Now if Stitch is right about the head being MR then that could go a good bit further. Yah know, I've always felt backward compatibility is a strong point for that market segment. Then add the fact that the media size is significantly smaller than the Zip (same as the old 3.5-inch floppy). Those two reason along would tempt me to mothball my Zip and upgrade to a floppy compatible. But I've held off for one reason --- speed. Knowing that the Sony was around the corner (a longer corner than I figured) and knowing that their access speed in the 200MB mode would be real fast compared to the SuperDisk and the Zip (actually not too far below a HDD), I've held off doing anything, waiting for the Sony. Even the $99.00 street price for the Imation (and sometimes a $50 rebate on top of that at CompUSA) wasn't enough to convince me to buy now - just because of speed (and the 200MB is a nice capacity point too). I think this guy will make a dent in the market if you just consider the band name recognition Sony has, the pent up demand for some sort of storage peripheral for the iMac (they have a USB model ready), and the speed/backward compatibily feature ( a plus for those video streaming requirements). Besides, the SuperDisk is getting the call on some OEM systems now as the A drive. That could change, IOM, to the Sony when the drive gets ramped. Regards, LT

To: Pierre-X who wrote (4675)	10/11/1998 6:00:00 PM
From: Stitch	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9256

PX, <<200MB is a non starter.>> Naw...gotta differ with you. What is emerging are two distinct segments for removability technology. One is what I call floppy replacement and the sine qua non is backward compatibility. No OEM is going to stop putting floppy disk drives in their box until their users can read old disks with whatever replaces them. This segment is big casino, battling for the next standard removable storage slot. The second segment I call Hi Performance cartridge. This is ORB, Jaz, JazII, Sparq, Quest, and SyJet so far. Of these latter the battle initially is for niche applications (albeit potentially lucrative ones) with promises from ORB that they expect to compete with fixed hard drives eventually (but that is typical Sayed Iftikar hyperbole and I doubt it). <<The only way a new infrastructure technology has a chance at breaking into a market is either by serving a critical niche need or by offering at least an order of magnitude of improved performance ... neither of which, as far as I can tell, characterizes HiFD.>> From 1.44 MB to 200 MB is at least an order of magnitiude isn't it? I would buy one if I thought it was becoming a standard. On the other hand I would buy the LS-120 if I thought that was becoming the standard. There you have it in a nutshell. Its a mexican stand off with OEMs and suppliers undecided while the users continue to putz around with the 1.44 MB floppy which, after all, is still quite serviceable in many respects. <G> Of course all of the above is my own VHO. Feel free to tell me I am FOS. <GG> best, Stitch