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The Orb was encased completely in smoked transparent plastic through which the power/activity light shined (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
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The second was
Castlewood's own adapter "The ORB USB Smart Cable" Part Number 88205-001 (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
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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
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The Model ORB2SE00 drive (with Model 777-052000S-KF power adapter) was compatible with the then contemporary PC and Mac hardware and operating systems. During the Orb drive's general period of relevance, two different SCSI/USB adapter configurations were provided by
Castlewood:
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is a 3.5-inch 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. Manufacturing of this product ceased in 2004.
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adjacent picture (97 mm wide × 103 mm high × 7 mm 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.
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Orb disks were made in
Malaysia and Thailand and formatted for Macintosh or IBM compatible computers. Disks arrived in a transparent plastic protective case that was shrink-wrapped and enclosed in a cardboard slip case.
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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;
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The SCSI identity could be altered with a screwdriver. A recessed control located under the unit allowed one of four settings (0, 4, 5 or 6).
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Operating system compatibility: Windows 98, Windows 98SE, Windows NT 4.0 (SP4+), Windows 2000, Windows ME, Mac OS 8.6+
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The Orb Drive was available in internal and external versions. The internal version was available with
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The manufacturer of the Orb Drive was
Castlewood Systems. It was formed by several former employees of
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This removable-disk drive was quiet in operation and incorporated several notable features:
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Start/Stop times: 25 seconds to start, 8 seconds to stop (including eject) on average
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The 5.7 GB drive could also read the 2.2 GB cartridges.
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Technologies. Shortly after the Orb Drive was released,
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Companies that filed for
Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2004
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interfaces. The external version was available with
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899:Companies that have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy
258:Transfer rate: 17.35 MB/s sustained, 66 MB/s burst
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27:Defunct American removable storage manufacturer
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340:, Computer History Museum, November 1, 2006
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267:Drive head: GMR (Giant Magneto-Resistive)
261:Average seek time: 11 ms read/12 ms write
245:suppressing magnets close to the adapter.
184:bankruptcy and ceased operation in 2004.
120:Learn how and when to remove this message
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419:List of defunct hard disk manufacturers
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177:brought a lawsuit against Castlewood.
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58:adding citations to reliable sources
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282:Estimated disk shelf life: 20 years
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152:Orb Drive – external SCSI – back
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45:needs additional citations for
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571:Digital Equipment Corporation
354:Orb Drive Specifications Page
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338:Oral History of Syed Iftikar
160:Orb Drive – 2.2 GB cartridge
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407:History of hard disk drives
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250:5.7 GB drive specifications
212:2.2 GB drive specifications
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909:Discontinued media formats
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264:Rotation speed: 5,400 rpm
136:Orb Drive – external SCSI
889:Computer storage devices
733:Nippon Electric Industry
496:Bryant Computer Products
412:IBM magnetic disk drives
285:Warranty: 1 year limited
626:Hokushin Electric Works
531:Computer Memories, Inc.
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69:"Castlewood Orb Drive"
255:Capacity: 5.7 GB
180:Castlewood filed for
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708:MiniStor Peripherals
653:Intégral Peripherals
586:ExcelStor Technology
359:Linux Journal Review
304:SyQuest EZ 135 Drive
54:improve this article
813:Samsung Electronics
309:SyQuest SparQ drive
279:Drive life: 5 years
838:SyQuest Technology
823:Shugart Associates
536:Conner Peripherals
526:CII-Honeywell-Bull
511:Castlewood Systems
435:Seagate Technology
165:Castlewood Systems
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853:Texas Instruments
778:Potter Instrument
228:rear of the unit.
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16:(Redirected from
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894:Hard disk drives
773:Plus Development
718:Mitsumi Electric
601:General Electric
481:Areal Technology
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270:CPU: 30 MIPS DSP
204:, SCSI, USB, or
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348:External links
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71: –
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65:Find sources:
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43:This article
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753:Olivetti OPE
606:GS Magicstor
561:Dataproducts
551:Data General
510:
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208:interfaces.
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52:Please help
47:verification
44:
883:Categories
833:StorageTek
783:PrairieTek
713:Mitsubishi
703:MiniScribe
698:Micropolis
683:Librascope
663:JT Storage
325:References
188:Interfaces
80:newspapers
758:Panasonic
556:Datapoint
546:Data Disc
501:Burroughs
319:Zip drive
299:Jaz drive
182:Chapter 7
142:Orb Drive
110:June 2022
18:Orb Drive
293:See also
206:FireWire
202:parallel
868:YE-Data
828:Siemens
793:Quantum
768:Philips
748:Okidata
693:Memorex
678:Kyocera
673:Kennedy
631:Hyosung
621:Hitachi
596:Fujitsu
541:Cornice
516:Calcomp
506:C. Itoh
454:Defunct
440:Toshiba
428:Current
175:SyQuest
171:SyQuest
94:scholar
858:Tokico
843:Tandon
818:Sequel
803:Rodime
688:Maxtor
658:Iomega
641:AdStar
576:Emulex
476:Anelex
96:
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75:
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863:Xebec
808:SAGEM
798:Ricoh
788:Priam
738:Nomaï
581:Epson
471:Ampex
101:JSTOR
87:books
848:TEAC
616:HGST
491:BASF
198:SCSI
140:The
73:news
728:NEC
723:NCR
668:JVC
636:IBM
196:or
194:IDE
56:by
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461:3M
387:e
380:t
373:v
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98:·
91:·
84:·
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20:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
