DVD-RAM
or DVD-ROM, CD-R or CD-RW? RAID, what is a RAID system?
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APEX
DVd player
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It
is safest to stay with international standards that are shared with
many key companies. That way you can still find a machine that will
accept your disks ten years from now. After all, how many computers
today can read 5 inch disks, or 8 inch disks?
We
started out with 230 MB MO disks. Too small to hold our files, since
each file was about 48 MB.
So
we tried out the newest rage in 1996, dual
phase disks, 650 MB (Toray and Panasonic). Of course by late
1997 equipment to read these were no longer easy to find.
So
in 1997 we tried the Nikon Beluga, direct overwrite system. It was
premature technology at that time; we returned the disks and player
and got our money back.We then tried the largest storage available
in early 1998, the Pinnacle Micro Apex (pictured below ). Wonderful,
but costly.
In
the meantime, in 2000, it turns out that the 650 MB dual phase drive
(PD) system is precisely the forerunner of DVD-RAM
technology with over 5 gigs per disk. By complete accident we
ended up with disks (our old PD disks) that can now still be read
into the next generation.
As soon as DVD-RAM software matures and the price for burners drops,
we will review this potential replacement for tried and true CD-R.
In the meantime, we are burning CD-R.
We
were nervous about burning CD disks into frisbees, but now that
CD burner software is idiot proof we have found that, at $1 per
blank CD, and only $350 for a burner, that CD-R
is the most cost effective for the year 2000.
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If
you are not sure what digital imaging storage device(s) you
need, then just ask MegaHaus for suggestions. Contact Robert
D. Groover, Sales Manager, MegaHaus (Dickinson, TX), tel (281)
534-3919, ext 1086. e-mail rgroover@megahaus.com
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Now,
in the new Millennium, we use 8x and 12x CD-R burners. Pinnacle
Micro Apex is legacy and has been replaced by Panasonic and other
brands of DVD-RAM. We do not recommend Pinnacle Micro Apex
any more (they would not even repair our Apex unit).
We
lean from experience because we test every kind of storage device.
The picture below shows just a portion of the drives attached to
Nicholas Hellmuth's work station (DVD-RAM, 8x CD-R, plus hard drives).
Any two drives (if they are the same speed and same kind) can be
joined to create a RAID system. A RAID system level 0 is twice as
fast as the individual drives on their own.
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FLAAR offers for you more information about this subject |
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