Mass Optical Storage Technologies of Cypress, California, which is a subsidiary of the Japanese company Nakamichi Corp has what it describes as the world’s first rewritable optical disk drive using removable 3.5 media. The product is called the RMD-5100-S and is the first in a planned RMD Series of optical drives. The RMD-5100-S has entry-level formatted capacities of up to 128Mb on ANSI-standard 3.5 rewritable optical disk cartridges, which provide an anticipated shelf life greater than 10 years with no data loss. Average seek times are rated at 35mS while a short scan and seek function makes data within a 128-track band accessible within 9mS. The disk is packaged in the standard half-height 5.25 form factor, but has the media handling, storage advantages and higher performance inherent in the 3.5 media format, claims the company. Data security is catered for by a software controlled media interlock command that prevents premature media removal. In internal customer-configurable systems EEPROM is available in every drive so the OEM, value added reseller or system integrator can customise specific functions of the drive to fit individual systems requirements. Supporting the SCSI disk drive Common Command Set, the optical drive produces a sustained data transfer rate of 512Kbps with SCSI burst transfer rates of 1.5Mbps in asynchronous mode and 3Mbps in synchronous mode. The RMD-5100-S is described as having a mean time between failure rating in excess of 30,000 power-on hours, supporting an expected design life of at least five years. The disk will be available in November priced at $120. Mass Optical Storage Technologies is now part of the Nakamichi Peripherals Corp holding company, along with Mountain Networks Solutions Inc, the MT Holding Co and Ocean Microsystems.
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