Drives & Readers

With the wide array of different DBEM devices available, there exists also a substantial number of different drives available for each format.

This legend corresponds to the Connector column in the tables below.

The naming scheme generally combines the connector type with the number of pins. IDC (Insulation Displacement Connector) is commonly used with flat ribbon cables, with the connector crimped directly onto the cable. Centronics-style connectors are a type of micro-ribbon connector, typically used with round, insulated external cables rather than flat ribbon cable. VHDCI (Very High Density Cable Interconnect) is a smaller, higher-density connector format, also typically used with round, insulated cables. The terms used in this table describe the physical connector rather than the SCSI standard or bus generation; the same connector type may have been used with multiple generations of SCSI.

This legend corresponds to the Height column in the tables below.

5.25 inch drive bays come in two heights; full-height and half-height. Full-height bays — seen primarily in much older computer devices — measure 5-3⁄4 inches (146.1 mm) wide and 3-1⁄4 inches (82.6 mm) tall. Half-height bays are still present in many modern computer systems, have the same width as their counterparts, but are only 1-5⁄8 inches (41.3 mm) tall. Many computer cases that have two or more half-height bays available can accommodate full-height drives, although this is not always the case.

3.5 inch drive bays also have two height standards. Full-height bays measure 4 inches (101.6 mm) wide and 1-5⁄8 inches (41.3 mm) tall, the same height as half-height 5.25 inch drive bays. Slim-height bays are the same width, but are shorter at 1.028 inches (26.1 mm)¹⁾.

The below drives all support the 3.5 inch MO format.

These drives are all 5.25 inch, magneto-optical units.

• While many external drives are simply internal drives in an enclosure, some are more customized or are missing the front bezel that would be present on a standard internal drive. Keep this in mind if purchasing an external drive in order to shuck the inner drive from it.
• Special attention should be paid to the Pinnacle Micro Vertex and Apex drives as they are the only drives that support OMDR disks²⁾.
• Many models of Maxoptix drives are difficult to find images of, so some data has been collected from auction listings, old sales lists, and other sources³⁾.
• The Star model variants of some Maxoptix drives seem to have improved caching and other reliability features⁴⁾.
• The Maxoptix T7-9100 appears visually similar to and may be a rebadged Sony SMO-F561.