In a message dated 7/2/03 12:02:34 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


> Perhaps some of the third party hardware vendors would care to
> chime in with their prospective on this topic.
>
>

Part of the focus of this discussion relates to the probable failure of disc
drives in the future...

Some drives last a lot longer than the average person expects.  HPIB disc
drives for example, are still available on the used market.  And yes they do work
just fine.  A 10 year old drive is normally not a big maintenance issue.  A
20 year old drive on the other hand is.

Important questions for MPE users are:

How long do you intend to use a HP-3000 with certain models of disc drives?
What is your upgrade path in the future?
Will you be able to obtain enough good used drives in the future to handle
greatly expanded future storage needs?

A new current technology 100GB drive is equivalent in space to 50 older 2GB
drives.  If you need 100GB of space in the future, do you have SCSI address
space, controllers, and slots to set that arrangement up?  Think about what if
you need 1000GB for website graphics or whatever and the biggest drives that you
can obtain are say 18GB.  That's still about 50 drives.  I personally would
love to know that very high capacity current model SCSI drives will work fine
on older (9x7?) type systems.  I am not sure where the limit is though.

The best solution is to not have to worry about all this and perpetuating
older hardware.  That's why I continue to push for the availability of MPE source
code.  If nothing in a future non-HP version of MPE locks us into current
hardware, we do not have to worry about the existence and reliability of this
current hardware.  While as a long time used equipment dealer, I know from
experience that hardware can and will last a long time, I also know that eventually
there will come a time when the failure rate makes perpetuating the hardware a
poor business decision.  MPE and current/future technology hardware is a
sound foundation.  We just need a way to accomplish that plan.

Wayne Boyer