Dear Confocalists, In the discussion on archiving of files using
CD-ROMs, enough negative factors were mentioned to guarentee that I will
not be selecting that method for my multi-user facility.
        Glen MacDonald mentioned using his PD drive as an interim step. I am
using my PD drives in lieu of CD storage, although it is extremely slow
to catch on at my facility. There are several drawbacks to it.
  1. We have the Bio-Rad MRC 1024 which uses OS2 and there is no OS2
driver for the PD drive. This requires rebooting the machine in the
DOS/WINDOWS mode in order to do the mass storage.
  2. PD drives have not been aggressively marketed, therefore they are
still fairly unknown to the general world.

However, there are excellent advantages to PD drives.
  1. They are read/write/erasable OPTICAL disks, at 650 Mb they sell for
$39.00 and the price is dropping.
  2. There is no issue of multisessions and PC/MAC compatibility. The
drives come with software to be installed on either.
  3. The drives also read CD disks, therefore can be used in place of CD
drives.
  4. The drives are cheap enough that anyone can have one in their lab
and a home. Internal drives are now below $300. External drives are also
available at a higher price.

        I have no financial stake in any companies. I just like to avoid
headaches. CD writers seem to be huge headaches.

        Also, Panasonic optical disks, 1 Gb, sell for $99. from Totowa Systems
in New Jersey. We have been paying that price for well over a year. We
buy as little as 5 at a time for that price, although I don't know if
there is a minimum quantity.

Several of my $.02 worth.
        ANDREA ELBERGER
        Professor, Anatomy and Neurobiology
        Director, Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope Facility
        The University of Tennessee, Memphis
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