Maxtor Corp’s disk subsystem integrator Storage Dimensions Inc, San Jose, California has configured Maxtor’s Tahiti 1 erasable magneto-optical disk drive for use with MS-DOS and OS/2 machines, Apple Macintoshes and Novell NetWare servers, and will be marketing them from September. The new products will be the first to make the Tahiti 1 available to end-users – the product has up to now been available only OEM. The Storage Dimensions LaserStors will be external units with their own power supplies, fans, and SCSI interfaces to the host microcomputer. The drive uses an exchangeable 5.25 optical cartridge that can hold either 650Mb or 1Gb on two sides, depending on the recording format used. The MS-DOS and OS/2 versions will come with AT or Micro Channel SCSI boards, and all will look to the operating system like a standard magnetic Winchester. LaserStor prices will start at $8,000, but the Tahiti substantially outperforms most of the Japanese alternatives with an average seek time of 35mS against 69mS for the Ricoh Co drive, 90mS for the Sony Corp drive, something like 96mS for the Canon Inc drive used by NeXT Inc in the NeXT Computer System. The 650Mb cartridges will sell for $295, the 1Gb cartridges for $395.
