Orb Drive
Encyclopedia
The Orb Drive was a 3.5" removable hard disk drive introduced by Castlewood Systems in 1999. Its original capacity was 2.2 GB. A later version of the drive was introduced in 2001 with a capacity of 5.7 GB.
1 For ease of working with an SCSI interface the SCSI identity could be altered simply with a screwdriver. A recessed control located under the unit allowed one of four settings (0; 4; 5 and 6).
2 Unlike its rivals the Orb had a protective cover over the front of the unit completely encasing the data disk. Closure of the cover allowed air to be purged for reading and writing operations. A button located at the centre of the front panel raised the cover for insertion or removal of a disk as shown in the picture on the right (97mm wide x 103mm high x 7mm deep). Disks were fed into the front of the drive and pressed down lightly to engage them with the drive mechanism. Seconds afterwards the lid would flip back down again.
3 The Orb was encased completely in smoked transparent plastic through which the Power/ activity light shone (Steady Green/ Flashing Amber or Flashing Red) as disks were loaded, tested and unloaded. It was also possible to follow movements of the read and write mechanism through the top panel at the rear of the unit.
Orb disks were made in Malaysia and Thailand and formatted for Macintosh or IBM compatibles. Disks arrived in a transparent plastic protective case which was shrink wrapped and enclosed in a cardboard slip case. The main claims made by Castlewood for using their 2.2 GB disks were as follows:
The drive, Model ORB2SE00 was made in Thailand and the power adapter Model 777-052000S-KF in China. It was compatible with contemporary PC and Mac hardware and operating systems viz: Intel Pentium, AMD K6, Cyrix MMX, iMac and Bondi-blue Power Macintosh G3, G4+, Windows 98 and Mac OS 8.5.1 with firmware update 1.1 et seq and Mac OS 8.6 onwards.
During its lifetime two different SCSI/ USB adapter configurations were provided by Castlewood:
1) The first used two adapters, one to connect the drive's female HD50 "SCSI IN" socket to a female DB25 socket into which a male DB25 plug to USB cable attached;
2) The second was Castlewood's own adapter "The ORB USB Smart Cable" Part Number 88205-001 made in Taiwan (Male HD50 SCSI to USB). This single unit had two manually operated locking pins to keep it firmly connected. The attached USB cable had a clear transparent cover incorporating eight toroidal ceramic surge suppressing magnets close to the adapter.
The following specifications were taken from the 2.2 GB External SCSI manual Part Number: 30002-001 Rev 1:*
Performance:
Reliability and Warranty:
General Information:
Operating Conditions:
The 5.7 GB drive can also read the 2.2 GB cartridges.
The internal version was available with IDE or SCSI
interfaces.
The external version was available with Parallel, SCSI, USB, or Firewire interfaces.
Castlewood has filed for Chapter 7
bankruptcy and is no longer in operation.
2.2 GB Drive Specifications
This removable disk drive was far quieter in operation than its contemporary the 2 Gb Iomega Jaz and incorporated several notable and quite novel features:1 For ease of working with an SCSI interface the SCSI identity could be altered simply with a screwdriver. A recessed control located under the unit allowed one of four settings (0; 4; 5 and 6).
2 Unlike its rivals the Orb had a protective cover over the front of the unit completely encasing the data disk. Closure of the cover allowed air to be purged for reading and writing operations. A button located at the centre of the front panel raised the cover for insertion or removal of a disk as shown in the picture on the right (97mm wide x 103mm high x 7mm deep). Disks were fed into the front of the drive and pressed down lightly to engage them with the drive mechanism. Seconds afterwards the lid would flip back down again.
3 The Orb was encased completely in smoked transparent plastic through which the Power/ activity light shone (Steady Green/ Flashing Amber or Flashing Red) as disks were loaded, tested and unloaded. It was also possible to follow movements of the read and write mechanism through the top panel at the rear of the unit.
Orb disks were made in Malaysia and Thailand and formatted for Macintosh or IBM compatibles. Disks arrived in a transparent plastic protective case which was shrink wrapped and enclosed in a cardboard slip case. The main claims made by Castlewood for using their 2.2 GB disks were as follows:
- 1500+ 1.44Mb Floppy Disks;
- 3.5 Hours of audio;
- 22 100MB Floppy disks;
- 3+ CD ROM Games;
- 2,999+ Color Photographs;
- 2+ Hours of video;
- Get 3 times the storage capacity (over 6 GB) with your back-up compression software!
The drive, Model ORB2SE00 was made in Thailand and the power adapter Model 777-052000S-KF in China. It was compatible with contemporary PC and Mac hardware and operating systems viz: Intel Pentium, AMD K6, Cyrix MMX, iMac and Bondi-blue Power Macintosh G3, G4+, Windows 98 and Mac OS 8.5.1 with firmware update 1.1 et seq and Mac OS 8.6 onwards.
During its lifetime two different SCSI/ USB adapter configurations were provided by Castlewood:
1) The first used two adapters, one to connect the drive's female HD50 "SCSI IN" socket to a female DB25 socket into which a male DB25 plug to USB cable attached;
2) The second was Castlewood's own adapter "The ORB USB Smart Cable" Part Number 88205-001 made in Taiwan (Male HD50 SCSI to USB). This single unit had two manually operated locking pins to keep it firmly connected. The attached USB cable had a clear transparent cover incorporating eight toroidal ceramic surge suppressing magnets close to the adapter.
The following specifications were taken from the 2.2 GB External SCSI manual Part Number: 30002-001 Rev 1:*
Performance:
- Average Seek Time: 10ms read/write 12 ms
- Data Transfer Rate: 12.2 MB/sec maximum
- Burst Transfer Rate: 20 MB/sec maximum
- Rotation Speed: 5400 rpm
- Head: MR (Magneto-Resistive)
- CPU: 25 MIPS DSP
- Start/Stop Times: 6 sec spin-up, 10 sec read, 15 sec write/6 sec stop
- Long Format Time: 9 Minutes
- Short Format Time: Less than one second
Reliability and Warranty:
- Reliability: Labyrinth Sealed Door with Auto Closure and Patented enclosure environmental controls
- MTBF: 300,000 hours
- Service Life: 5 Years
- Bit Error Rate: 1 in 10^12
- Disk (estimated shelf life): 20 Years
- Drive and Disk Warranty: 1 Year Limited
General Information:
- Interface: 50-pin High Density narrow
- Disk Storage capacity: 2.2 GB
- Operating System Compatibility: Windows 98, 95, 3.1x, NT4.0+, MS-DOS 5.0+, OS/2 4.0, Mac OS 7.5.5+
- Hardware Compatibility Mac: Power PC with PCI or above, G3 and G4
- PC : Intel Pentium, AMD K6, Cyrix MMX
- Power: 5V (+-5%), 1.5 amp (peak) start-up, .75 amp continuous read/write, .75 amp max seek, .2 amp standby mode
- Power Management: Via software, with idle and standby mode
- Dimensions: 6.5" x 1.5" x 5.25"
- Weight: 1.19 lb / 538.7 gms
- Write Protection: Via Software
- Acoustical Noise: Less than 36 dB
Operating Conditions:
- Temperature:
- OperatingOperating temperatureAn operating temperature is the temperature at which an electrical or mechanical device operates. The device will operate effectively within a specified temperature range which varies based on the device function and application context, and ranges from the minimum operating temperature to the...
: 10 °C to 46 °C - Storage: -40 °C to +60 °C
- Shipping: -40 °C to +60 °C
- Relative Humidity (non-condensing)
- Operating: 10% to 80%
- Non-Operating: 10% to 90%
- Vibration:
- Operational: .03 inches p-p @ 5–10 Hz, .5g p-p @ 10–300 Hz, .2g p-p @ 300–500 Hz
- Non-Operational: .04 inches p-p @ 5–10 Hz, 4g p-p @ 10–500 Hz
- Shock @ 11ms duration 1/2 Sine wave:
- Operational: 3g
- Non-operational: 80g
- Altitude:
- Operating: 10000 ft (3,048 m)
5.7 GB Drive Specifications
- Capacity: 5.7 GB
- Transfer Rate: 17.35 MB/s sustained, 66 MB/s burst
- Average Seek Time: 11 ms read / 12 ms write
- Rotation Speed: 5400 rpm
- Drive Head: GMR (Giant Magneto-Resistive)
- CPU: 30 MIPS DSP
- Start/ Stop Times: 25sec start, 8sec stop including eject, average
- Operating System Compatibility: Windows 98, Windows 98SE, Windows NT 4.0 (SP4+), Windows 2000, Windows ME, Mac OS 8.6+
- Drive Life: 5 years
- Estimated Disk Shelf Life: 20 years
- Warranty: 1 year limited
The 5.7 GB drive can also read the 2.2 GB cartridges.
Interfaces
The Orb Drive was available in internal and external versions.The internal version was available with IDE or SCSI
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
interfaces.
The external version was available with Parallel, SCSI, USB, or Firewire interfaces.
CastleWood Systems
The manufacturer of the Orb Drive was Castlewood Systems. It was formed by several former employees of SyQuest Technologies. Shortly after the Orb Drive was released, SyQuest brought a lawsuit against Castlewood.Castlewood has filed for Chapter 7
Chapter 7, Title 11, United States Code
Chapter 7 of the Title 11 of the United States Code governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States...
bankruptcy and is no longer in operation.
See also
- SyQuest
- EZ 135 DriveEZ 135 DriveThe EZ 135 Drive is a 3.5" removable platter hard disk drive. It was introduced by SyQuest Technology in 1995. It had a maximum capacity of 135 MB per disk.A successor drive, known as the SyQuest EZFlyer was released in 1996...
- SparQ drive
- Zip driveZip driveThe Zip drive is a medium-capacity removable disk storage system that was introduced by Iomega in late 1994. Originally, Zip disks launched with capacities of 100 MB, but later versions increased this to first 250 MB and then 750 MB....
- Jaz driveJaz driveThe Jaz drive was a removable disk storage system, introduced by the Iomega company in 1995. The system has since been discontinued.The Jaz disks were originally released with a 1 GB capacity in a 3½-inch form factor, which was a significant increase over Iomega's most popular product at the time,...
- USB flash driveUSB flash driveA flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...