Fremont, California-based SyQuest Technology Corp, the company that specialises in removable cartridge Winchester drives and has been making its 3.9 units for years, has come out with the first 2.5 removable cartridge drive for notebook and laptop computers. The SQ2542A is 0.7 high and the cartridge stores 42.8Mb and is just a quarter inch thick. The drive is both mechanically and electrically compatible with other industry standard 2.5 fixed drives, SyQuest claims. To optimise seek time and power consumption, it offers what is claimed to be the industry’s first programmable seek performance capability – it incorporates three different seek times – 14.5mS in performance mode, 22mS in power-saving mode. Power consumption during seek varies from 1.4W to 1.2W depending on how much of a hurry you are in; it also has a Power-On to Ready time of just three seconds. The company is now shipping evaluation units to major notebook manufacturers worldwide. Volume production is scheduled to begin in first quarter 1992. Pricing in OEM quantities will be under $250 by mid-1992, and $60 for the cartridge resulting in $1.50 per Megabyte for incremental storage.
