The ORB SCSI External Drive Information and Specifications

An Collective Review

9/15/99

Using an ORB Drive on

an

A NEW Apple IIgs Product - Questions and Answers Review

 

Copyright © 1999 by Ben Johnston (MacProber) and GS WorldView

 

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Operating Systems Compatibility: GS/OS v6.0.1 and ProDOS 8  
 
Some typical IIgs user questions and answers about the ORB drive follow
along with my own personal evaluation and review using the ORB (MR) disks
and drive on an Apple IIgs.
 
 
QUESTION: I need a media storage device for use on my Apple IIgs, that has a
really large amount of space, is fairly inexpensive and which can use small
sized interchangeable disks as read-write, rewrite media storage devices, that's
what I really need to find and I'm really in the market for such now. Do you
have any suggestions on how I might look for something like this, how much it
would cost me and where I could buy such ?
 
ANSWER: The ORB MR SCSI disk drive is certainly faster, less expensive, more
portable, much easier to handle and use with it's 2.2 GB interchangeable, read-write
and rewrite disks, than any SCSI hard drive or other media storage device I've used on 
an Apple IIgs. The ORB is also much faster than any Zip Drive, SCSI or IDE hard drive
I've ever use on my IIgs before. You can buy an ORB external SCSI drive with one ORB
disk for $199.95 from just about any standard chain computer retailer. Try Fry's or 
CompUSA here in the USA, for instants. Castlewood has a world wide sales 'where to buy'
and distribution webpage anybody anywhere can reference:
http://www.castlewood.com/wheretobuy/wheretobuy.html

QUESTION: Would the ORB SCSI drive work as a good replacement on my IIgs for
such media devices I'm now using like a hard drive, SyQuest cart. drive, Iomega - Zip
100 MB, 250 MB or even a Jaz 1 GB and 2 GB Zip cart drive ?
 
ANSWER: Yes, most certainly. From my own use, experience and observations with the
ORB (MR) SCSI drive on the IIgs, the ORB SCSI MR (magnetoresistive) drive is a much
faster, much larger media storage device, more economical and much less expensive with
each of it's 2.2 GB disks. It appears more reliable and much better in its over all responsiveness
with less problems, than any of the SCSI hard drives, SyQuest cart. drives or any of my Zip
drives like the 100 MB, 250 MB, 1 GB or even the 2 GB Jaz, I've used. Compared to the 
cost and read-write access speeds for any of my IIgs media storage devices; SCSI hard drives,
SyQuest, Iomega or other Zip drives, even compared to large 500 MB and up Focus IDE
drive-on-a-card or even the MicroDrive Turbo IDE card and the large IDE drives it can use, 
the ORB SCSI MR disk drive is the unquestionable winner in my personal opinion.
 
QUESTION: If I do buy this ORB (MR) SCSI disk drive for use with my Apple IIgs
or other Apple II model computers, what sort of connector cable will I need to have for it 
and will it work OK with the available Apple II and IIgs SCSI cards ?
  
ANSWER: All you need is a standard DB 25 to HDB 50 SCSI cable. This is the standard
cable for connecting the ORB (MR) disk drive to all of the Apple II and IIgs SCSI cards. 
The connector on the Apple II High Speed SCSI card, RamFAST SCSI card or even the
Apple II Rev. C SCSI card are all female DB 25. So, you need a cable with a male DB 25
end to connect to that, and the other end needs to match the peripheral you are adding to the 
SCSI chain. As such, the supplied cable with the ORB would work fine with the Apple HS
SCSI card.
 
QUESTION: The ORB drive seems to have no software included with it that's specific for 
use with an Apple II model or the IIgs. What do I use to format these ORB 2.2 GB disks?
 
ANSWER: Apple's 'Advanced Disk Utilities' worked just fine for me and partitioned the
ORB 2.2 GB disk promptly with ease. After that, the ORB drive and its ORB 2.2 GB disks
worked just fine for me just like a standard hard drive. It's probably more space than most
Apple II and IIgs users would probably ever require. But, I always say better to have more 
media storage space than not enough. And, with these ORB 2.2 GB disks, ample media storage 
space for just about anything you'd care to store is available.
 
QUESTION: When partitioning the ORB (MR) disk would I use PRO.FST or HFS.FST or
both ? It's my understanding that you can only partition under ProDOS as 32 MB partitions.
Thus, it seems partitioning the ORB (MR) disk would fill the desktop with ProDOS, 32 MB 
partition icons. 
 
ANSWER: Having a limit of 16 ProDOS partitions, the simple solution to that is to just 
make 16 or so (depending on your individual needs) and then make one or two large HFS 
partitions for the rest of each 2.2 GB ORB (MR) disk. And, you could use PRO.FST or 
HFS.FST or both dependant upon your own needs. If you don't want HFS partitions, you 
don't need to make any, (although you'd be wasting lots of potential space). After all, the
ORB (MR) disks do have a total media storage capacity of 2.2 GB's each. I'd suggest you
use all of the available media storage capacity for the ORB (MR) disks.

Company Contact Information

COMPANY: Castlewood Systems

TEL. CONTACT: 925-461-5500

WEBSITE: http://www.castlewood.com

DRIVE PRICE: $199.95 (Suggested retail price)

DISK PRICE: $29.95 each (Suggested retail price)

ORB Drive and Disk Overview

ORB Drive and Disk Specifications:

Average Seek Time: 10 milliseconds read/write 12 milliseconds
Data Transfer Rate: 12.2 MB/second maximum sustained
Burst Transfer Rate: 20 MB/second
CPU: 25 MIPS DSP
 
Long Format Time: 9 minutes
Short Format Time: Less than one second
Warranty: 1 Year Limited
Interface: External SCSI
Disk Storage Capacity: 2.2 GB
Power Management: Via GS/OS v6.0.1 and ProDOS 8 Software, 
with idle and standby mode. 
Dimensions: 6" X 1" X 4"
Weight: 15 oz. / 426 gm
Write Protection: Try GS/OS v6.0.1 and ProDOS 8 Specific Software
for both files and disk.

First Impressions

The drive itself is quite attractive, having a warm off black colour and a

sleek design with smoothly contoured and finished surfaces. While the

drive is quite light (it weighs just over one pound) it has a very solid

and sturdy feel to it.

 

The SCSI ID selector slide switch (with four numbers to choose from) is

conveniently placed on the right side of the drive. But, Castewood failed to

place a marker on the slide switch. This means you must count detent stops to

determine which SCSI ID the switch is set for. No big deal really.

 

A quick look at the ORB drives SCSI external manual showed it to be nicely

organised. Note: (Mac and PC users share the same manual).

(see: ORB.drive.SCSI.Manual.HELP.txt )

 

Getting Things Connected

Connecting the ORB proved to be quite straight forward (once you ignored

the ambiguous and the incorrect instructions that are in the manual). Remember,

you are connecting it to either your Apple II or IIgs computer model.

The connector on the Apple II High Speed SCSI card, RamFAST SCSI card or

even the Apple II Rev. C SCSI card are all female DB 25. So, you need a cable

with a male DB 25 end to connect to that, and the other end needs to match the

peripheral you are adding to the SCSI chain. As such, the supplied cable with the

ORB would work fine with the Apple HS SCSI card.

 

While the Mac version of the external SCSI ORB includes one SCSI cable,

(which is the version/model you need to buy for use with your Apple

II or IIgs models of computer), I did find it useful to purchase a second cable

to attach the ORB's 50-pin HD connector to my SCSI chain on my Mac.

 

A cool feature of the ORB drive is that it has automatic, built-in active

termination. If it's the last device in your SCSI chain, the ORB's terminator is

active. Otherwise, it will remain inactive.

 

One feature not present, that I'd like to see added is the lack of an on/off

switch. The external power supply is not nearly as big as the power supply

for the Zip drive. I like the size of the ORB SCSI external drive power supply

but, I always thought the Zip drive power supply was to big and awkward.

 

The Results

So, does the ORB live up to its advance publicity? My Apple IIgs testing

indicates that it certainly does.

 

The ORB disk mounts fairly fast and once mounted the performance is swift

and rather quiet also. I only noticed a faint clicking sound while data is being

written to the ORB disk. In fact, from the soft whirl of the drive when it spins

up to the smooth operation of the drive's pneumatic door, the ORB has a real

quality feeling and operation to it.

 

Back To The Manual

The manual appears to have been written by someone who is only

familiar with the PC. Unfortunately, PC terms are substituted for Mac

terms and PC references are intermingled with the instructions for the

Mac. While an experienced Mac user will be able to figure things out,

this will generate unnecessary confusion for some Mac users. For an

Apple IIgs user the manual can be rather confusing in many of the very

same respects also.

 

I went over some of the manual's instructions with an engineer at

Castlewood, advising him of some of the errors and misconceptions

that some Mac and Apple IIgs users might have to deal with. I was

informed they will be corrected in an update, ASAP.

 

 

For now, here are the recommendations: 

 

1.) Use your Apple IIgs GS/OS v6.0.1 standard SCSI drivers for

the Apple SCSI cards and the RamFAST drivers for the RamFAST

card.

 

2.) If possible, don't use the eject button to remove the mounted ORB

disk.

 

3.) Contrary to the instructions in the manual, it is usually safe to use

the ORB drive in a SCSI chain that also contains a printer, scanner, or

most other SCSI devices.

 

4.) It's best to use the correct cable rather than attach a non-standard

SCSI adapter to your cable.

 

Something To Be Excited About

 

To put all of this into perspective, one 2GB capacity Jazz drive with

one extra cartridge costs more than two ORB drives, each of which

costs $199.95 and includes one free cartridge. It gets better too. While

each additional 2 GB Jazz disk costs around $90, each additional ORB

disk will cost around $30.

 

The ORB comes with a one year warranty and includes toll-free tech

support. I made a couple of test calls to their support number, and the

representatives I spoke with were friendly and helpful, though I

believe they are not yet up to speed on the Mac and certainly need

extensive enlightenment on it's use with an Apple IIgs.

 

While only time will tell whether the ORB drive lives up to its claims

for superior mechanical reliability, and more time will be required to

determine the reliability and compatibility of our various Apple IIgs utility

software, initial indications are that this is a breakthrough technology at a

breakthrough price.

 

That's All Folks !

 

MacProber

GS WorldView Editor