MiniScribe
MiniScribe Corporation was a Longmont , Colorado- based mass storage media manufacturer founded in 1980 by Terry Johnson.
The manufacturer became known in the 1980s for its inexpensive stepper motor- based drives and quickly competed with the high-profile manufacturers before going bankrupt in 1990. The demise of MiniScribe Corporation marked one of the first major scandals in the computer industry.
Beginnings
MiniScribe achieved its first success with a 10-megabyte hard drive , which was relatively cheaper than models from Seagate and other major manufacturers. At the time, most drives used a high frequency stepper motor, the simple task of which was to move the read / write heads back and forth. The motors used so far reached 400 steps with each revolution. MiniScribe engineers found that manufacturing costs could be reduced by using motors that could only reach 200 steps per revolution. However, the use of such motors was reflected in the performance of the drives; the first drives had access times of 100 milliseconds (compared to 85 milliseconds for Seagate drives at the time). Due to the relatively slow performance of the drives, they had a longer life expectancy.
Miniscribe was able to perfect their drives until 1987, when they could keep up with Seagate's ST-225 series. In addition, one began with the production of high performance drives that for ESDI - ATA - and SCSI - interfaces were designed. The company also developed the 8051 and 7080 drives, which had a digitally controlled motor to control the read / write heads.
additional
On New Year's 1990, MiniScribe Corporation announced that it was bankrupt and that the company was up for sale. In April the company was bought by Maxtor Corporation and renamed Maxtor Colorado Corporation .