From: frb@egr.duke.edu (Frederick R. Bartram)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Some info on a 128 Mb magneto-optical drive
Date: 7 Apr 92 17:17:22 GMT
Organization: Duke University EE Dept.; Durham, NC


I recently purchased a 128Mb magneto-optical unit from Pinnacle Micro.
Since there has been some interest in these and similar units, I am posting
a summary of my experience with the drive over the past month.
I have included most of manufacturers published specifications.

VENDOR: 		Pinnacle Micro
MECHANISM:		Sony SMO-C301-00 Revision Level 1.43
FORMATTED CAPACITY:	121 Mb (HFS)


For those familiar with FWB's "BenchTest" here are the results:

Mac SE/30, sys7 (w/o TuneUp)  8 Mb Phys, 24Mb VM, 200 Mb HD,and a bunch of INITS

CAPACITY:	121.5
SUST. READ:	569 KB/s	SUSTAINED WRITE:	188 KB/s
AVG. ACCESS:	62 ms
AVG SEEK:	43.0 ms
READ TRANSACTION/s:	50	WRITE TRANSACTIONS/s:	25
INDEX:	Overall 1.2 	File Copy 1.5

For comparison, FWB gives a 20 Mb Apple HD on a Mac Plus these results:

CAPACITY:	19.0
SUST. READ:	144 KB/s	SUSTAINED WRITE:	143 KB/s
AVG. ACCESS:	84 ms
AVG SEEK:	65.0 ms
READ TRANSACTION/s:	57	WRITE TRANSACTIONS/s:	57
INDEX:	Overall 1.0


PROS:
-- CONVENIENCE
I primarily use the drive for backups and archiving and for this purpose
the drive seems to be well suited.
The 120 Mb capacity is greater than any partition I am likely
to use and this makes backing up partitions simple.
It definitely beats swapping floppies.
In addition, I use the drive to archive applications. I have a couple
of real hogs such as Mathematica, OzTex, and Think C. I put the application
as distributed on the optical unit and only keep a minimally sized folder
on my HD. So far this startegy seems to working pretty well.
The unit worked out of the box and has been trouble free.
-- MEDIA COST acceptable

CONS:
- NOISY
The drive is quite LOUD. I was unable to measure it but the manufacturer's
specs are included below. It is MUCH louder than my 100Mb pocketHAMMER and
this can be annoying. I REALLY dislike loud drives.
If I am not actually using the optical drive, I usually turn it off after
booting.
- SLOW (when compared to current magnetic HD)
The measured performance of the drive is also less than quoted by
the manufacturer (Why wasn't I surprised by this? :') ) but it is still
adequate for the way I am using it.


Higher capacity drives are coming. The delay, I believe, is more due to a lack
of standards than any significant technological problems.



========================== MANUFACTURERS Spec's ================================

DISK:		90mm (3.5 in) single-sided MO, ROM and
		Partial ROM with cartridge
CAPACITY:	unformatted 181.25 Mb; formatted 128 Mb

USER CAPACITY:	MO 127.4 Mb (max); ROM 122.9 Mb (max)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISK FORMAT:	Constant Composite
STANDARDS:	ISO/IEC CD10090
ROTATIONAL Mode:	CAV (Constant Angular Velocity)
SURFACES:	1
TOTAL TRACKS:	10,000
SECTORS/TRACK:	25
BYTES/SECTOR:	512
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROTATIONAL SPEED:	3000 rpm
Avg LATENCY:	10 ms
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SEEK TIME:	2 ms (typical)
SHORT STROKE (+/- 64 Tracks):	16 ms (typ)
AVG:		40 ms (typ)
FULL STROKE:	67 ms (typ)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOST INTERFACE:	SCSI ANSI X3.131-1986
		SCSI-2 Optional

TERMINATION:	External
TERMINATION POWER:	Enabled
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISK TRANSFER RATE:	7.25 Mbits/s
USER TRANSFER RATE:	625 Kbytes/s
ASYNC BURST RATE:	3.0 Mbytes/s
SYNC BURST RATE:	4.0 Mbytes/s
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BIT ERROR RATE:	< 10^-12 after ECC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUFFER MEMORY:	64 Kbytes w/parity
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ERROR DETECTION & CORRECTION:	Long DIstance Code, Reed Solomon, degree 16
ECC INTERLEAVE:	5
ERROR CORRECTION LENGTH:	40 bytes (max)
CYCLIC REDUNDANCY CHECK:	 Reed Solomon 4 bytes CRC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOADING TIME:	6.0 s (typ)
SPIN-UP:	5.0 s (typ)
UNLOADING:	5.0 s (typ)
SPIN-DOWN:	3.0 s (typ)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BIAS MAGNET FLIPPING TIME:	3.0 ms (typ)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MECHANICAL DIMENSIONS:	1.62" H x 4.00" W x 7.70" D
			4.13 cm x 10.16 cm x 19.55 cm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WEIGHT:	2.43 lb; 1.1 Kg
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POWER INPUT RANGE:	90-260 VAC, 47-440 Hz
POWER DISSIPATION:	75 W (max)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MOUNTING OPERATIONAL TILT:	Horizontal or Vertical <10 degrees
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL

OPERATING
	TEMP:	5 to  40 degrees C (41-104 degrees F)
	REL. HUMIDITY:	10-85 %
	TEMP. GRADIENT:	10 degrees C per hour (18 degrees F per hour)
NON-OPERATING
	TEMP:	-30 - 60 degrees C (-22 - 140 degrees F)
	Rel. HUMIDITY:	5 - 90 %
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIBRATION
OPERATING:	f: 5-350 Hz PSD: 0.00015 G^2/Hz
		f: 350-500 Hz -6db/Oct
		f: 500 Hz PSD: 0.001 G^2/Hz

NON-OPERATING:	f: 5-100 Hz	PSD: 0.02 G^2/Hz
		f: 100-137 Hz	-6db/Oct
		f: 137-350 Hz	PSD: 0.0107 G^2/Hz
		f: 500 Hz	PSD: 0.0052 G^2/Hz
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHOCK
OPERATING:	30 G 3 ms Half Sine;	No perceivable error
		40 G 3 ms Half Sine;	No Data loss
		89 G 3 ms Half Sine;	No permanent damage

NON-OPERATING:	89 G 3 ms Half Sine;	No permanent damage
		30 G 28 ms Trapezoidal
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSPORTATION
VIBRATION:	f: 5-200 Hz	PSD: 0.16 G^2/Hz
IMPACT:		91 cm (35.8"); 50 g
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALTITUDE
OPERATING:	-1000 to 15000 f (-305 - 4572 m)
NON-OPERATING:	-1000 to 25000 f (-3305 - 7620 m)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ELECTRIC SUSCEPTIBILITY:		1 V/m (14KHz - 1GHz)
MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY:		0.5 Gauss (47.5 Hz - 198 Hz)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAGNETIC FIELD EMISSIONS:	<10 Gauss p-p
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MTBF:		25,000 h
MTTR:		30 m
LIFE EXPECTANCY:	5 y or 30,000 Power-On hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACOUSTICAL NOISE:	55  dBA (max) @ 1m : Fast Response
			45 dBA (typ) excluding clamp and eject noise
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ELECTROSTATIC DISCHARGE:	Discharge to front-panel @ 200pF,100ohms
				8 kV	No perceivable error
				12 kV	No data loss; no permanent damage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REGULATORY
		UL 1950 (USA)
		CSA C22.2 No. 220 (Canada)
		DHHS Laser Compliance 21 (USA)
			CFR Subchapter J
		TUV Certification (Europe)
			IEC 450/VDE 0805
		TUV Certification (Europe)
			IEC 825/VDE 0837
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RFI  EMISSIONS:	
		FCC 47 CFR Part 15 (USA)
			Subpart J Class B
		DOC SOR/88-475 Class B (Canada)
		VDE 0871(B) Class B/VDE 0875 Class N  (Germany)
		VCCI Class 2 Information Tech. Equip. (Japan)


====================== End MANUFACTURER'S SPEC'S ===============================



================================================================================
Frederick (Rick) Bartram; Dept. of Elec. Eng.; Duke Univ.; Durham, NC 27706
PHONE: (919) 660-5268 		Internet: frb@ee.egr.duke.edu
--
================================================================================
Frederick (Rick) Bartram; Dept. of Elec. Eng.; Duke Univ.; Durham, NC 27706
PHONE: (919) 660-5268 		Internet: frb@egr.duke.edu