Imation SuperDisk drive
An LS-120 disk
Circuit components of the external USB SuperDisk for Macintosh. The drive itself is the same size as a standard 3.5' floppy drive, but uses an ATA interface. On the right is the USB-to-ATA adapter, which plugs into an intermediate fan-out and power supplydaughterboard that is inside the rear of the Mac drive's casing. This particular drive cannot function using USB power alone.
This shows the technology of the SuperDisk drive. Two voice coil servomotors move the drive heads precisely across the disk surface.
BLUE - The main servo with a large coil provides the primary force to move the head mechanism.
YELLOW - A secondary smaller coil primarily acts to keep the head mechanism aligned parallel with the disk surface.
RED - The drive eject motor allows the disk to be under computer control so that it normally will not eject until the computer has completed its read or writing tasks.
BLUE - The main servo with a large coil provides the primary force to move the head mechanism.
YELLOW - A secondary smaller coil primarily acts to keep the head mechanism aligned parallel with the disk surface.
RED - The drive eject motor allows the disk to be under computer control so that it normally will not eject until the computer has completed its read or writing tasks.
The SuperDisk LS-120 is a high-speed, high-capacity alternative to the 90 mm (3.5 in), 1.44 MBfloppy disk. The SuperDisk hardware was created by 3M's storage products group Imation in 1997, with manufacturing chiefly by Matsushita.
The SuperDisk had little success in North America; with Compaq, Gateway and Dell being three of only a few OEMs who supported it. It was more successful in Asia and Australia, where the second-generation SuperDisk LS-240 drive and disk was released. SuperDisk worldwide ceased manufacturing in 2003.
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History[edit]
![Speed Disk For Mac Speed Disk For Mac](/uploads/1/1/9/7/119742749/522823650.jpeg)
The design of the SuperDisk system came from an early 1990s project at Iomega. It is one of the last examples of floptical technology, where lasers are used to guide a magnetic head which is much smaller than those used in traditional floppy disk drives. Iomega orphaned the project around the time they decided to release the Zip drive in 1994. The idea eventually ended up at 3M, where the concept was refined and the design was licensed to established floppy drive makers Matsushita and Mitsubishi. Other companies involved in the development of SuperDisk include Compaq and OR Technology.
Matsushita continued development of the technology and released the LS-240. It has double the capacity of the LS-120 and the added feature of being able to format regular floppy disks to 32 MB capacity.[1] However, this higher density comes at a price – the entire disk must be rewritten any time a change is made, much like early CD-RW media.
A SuperDisk drive was used in two Panasonic digital cameras, the PV-SD4090[2] and PV-SD5000,[3] which allowed them to use both SuperDisk (LS120) and 3.5' floppy disks as the memory media.
Technical information[edit]
The SuperDisk's format was designed to supersede the floppy disk with its higher-capacity media that imitated the ubiquitous format with its own 120 MB (and later 240 MB) disk storage while the SuperDisk drive itself was backwards compatible with 1.44 MB and 720 KB floppy formats (MFM). Superdisk drives read and write faster to these sorts of disks than conventional 1.44 MB or 720 KB floppy drives. The newer LS-240 drives also have the ability to read and write regular 1.44 MB floppies at much higher densities.
The true capacity of these 'SD120MB' drives[4] is 120.375 MiB aka 126.22 MB (FAT16B with logical geometry 963/8/32 CHS × 512 bytes). The 'SD240MB' drives have a capacity of 229.25 MiB aka 240.39 MB (FAT16B with logical geometry 262/32/56 CHS × 512 bytes). 1.44 MB HD floppies formatted to 32 MB as 'FD32MB' (FAT16B with logical geometry 1024/2/32 CHS × 512 bytes) in the LS-240 show a dummy FAT12 file system (with logical geometries 160/2/9 or 80/2/18) when inserted into a normal floppy drive.
SuperDisk drives have been sold in parallel port, USB, ATAPI and SCSI variants. All drives can read and write 1.44 MB and 720 KiBMFM floppies, as used on PCs, Apple Macintoshes (High Density format only, see below), and many workstations. 2.88 MB floppy formats are not supported.
Imation also released a version of the SuperDisk with 'Secured Encryption Technology', which uses Blowfish with a 64-bit key to encrypt the contents.
- Imation Super Disk LS-120
- SuperDisk Drive
- Super Disk 120MB
- Super Disk 120MB
Criticism and obsolescence[edit]
Macintosh users found trouble making SuperDisk drives work with the GCR 800 KB or 400 KB diskettes used by older Macintoshes. These disks could be used in a SuperDisk drive only if formatted to PC 720 KB MFM format. Note that almost no other USB floppy drives supported Mac GCR floppies.
The biggest hurdle standing in the way of success was that Iomega's Zip drive had been out for three years when SuperDisk had been released. Zip had enough popularity to leave the public mostly uninterested in SuperDisk, despite its superior design and its compatibility with the standard floppy disk.
By 2000, the entire removable magnetic disk category was finally obsoleted by the falling prices of CD-R and CD-RW drives, and later on solid-state (USB flash drives or USB keydrives). Over the next few years, SuperDisk was quietly discontinued, even in areas where it was popular. Today, disks are very hard to find.
Under Windows XP, a USB SuperDisk drive will appear as a 3.5' floppy disk drive, receiving either the drive letter A: (if there is no floppy in the machine) or B: (if there already is one). This enables use by software that expects a floppy drive when 1.44 MB or 720 KB disks are inserted. 120 MB and 240 MB disks are also accessed via A: or B:.[5]
Practicality[edit]
The USB models were quite popular for debugging and installing servers that did not have a CD drive available. They could both store massive numbers of drivers for installation purposes as well as be used to run live operating systems, such as ReactOS, which amounts to 150 MB.
See also[edit]
- IBM XDF, technically unrelated special format for traditional HD floppy controllers, also providing a mini file system containing a README file similar to the LS-240's FD32M format.
References[edit]
- ^Sherriff, Lucy (2000-10-23). '32MB on a humble floppy'. The Register. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
- ^'Digital Camera Operating Instructions Model No. PV-SD4090'(PDF). Panasonic. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
- ^'Digital Camera Operating Instructions Model No. PV-SD5000'(PDF). Panasonic. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
- ^https://lkml.org/lkml/2000/3/12/171 LKML Boot Messages
- ^Lui, Gough (2 May 2013). 'Tech Flashback: iomega ZIP 100 vs 3M/Imation Superdisk LS-120 Showdown'. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to SuperDisk. |
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SuperDisk&oldid=982354311'
Everyone seems to love Sierra, but if your experience is like dragging your Mac through a swamp then it’s time to do something about it.
Let’s fix slow macOS Sierra
In this guide we’re going to highlight the most common problems that cause a slow Sierra and the solutions to help you speed up macOS. These solutions can be performed by anyone, but we’ve ordered them from easiest to hardest.
See how far up the Sierra speed solution ladder you can get.
Step 1 - Eliminate desktop clutter
Difficulty: Easy
Are you someone that puts everything on their desktop? To load all those icons takes up system resources that could be used for better things. Delete what you don’t need and group what you do into folders to improve macOS Sierra performance.
To quickly move files into folders:
- Hold Control and click the items you want to group
- Right-click any of the selected files and choose 'New Folder with Selection'
That was easy, wasn’t it? Now let’s use one of Sierra’s space saving features.
Step 2 - Optimize storage
Difficulty: Easy Wow filter for mac shortcut.
Another way to free up space is to use one of Sierra’s features - the ability to automatically remove files that you don’t need. Optimized storage can remove old video files (like that movie you watched months ago) that you can always download from iTunes again. It can also remove old email attachments, which remain stored on the mail server should you need them again.
Clearing out old videos and email attachments can save a lot of space on your Mac and improve overall Sierra performance. Please note that you need to use Apple’s Mail app to make use of the email attachment setting. Also, having watched videos suddenly disappear may not be to everyone’s taste.
However, if you want to turn these settings on, follow these steps:
- Go to About This Mac
- Click on the Storage tab and click on Manage
- Select Optimize
- Check 'Automatically remove watched iTunes movies and TV shows'
- Check 'Download only recent attachments' or to manually decide what gets downloaded, choose 'Don’t automatically download attachments'
If you tried these options but prefer the old way you’ll need to navigate to iTunes > Preferences > Advanced to uncheck 'Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.'
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/1/9/7/119742749/447323938.jpg)
If you want Sierra to download all your attachments again go to Mail > Preferences > Accounts > accountName > Account Information. Click on the Download Attachments drop-down menu and select 'All.'
That was a bit more work but still really easy, right? Next up is a way to always speed up a slow Sierra.
Step 3 - Remove background applications
Difficulty: Easy
Does your macOS slow down for no obvious reason? It could be that background apps are hogging your Mac’s memory. Most systems have multiple unneeded apps that use system resources. Next time things are slow open Activity Monitor (found in Utilities) and click on the top of the Memory column to order the apps by those that are using the most memory.
If you see an app that is using a good portion of memory (and you’re sure you’re not using it) select it and click the X at the top left to close the app.
Disk Speed Macbook Pro
Easy, huh?
The next steps are a little bit more challenging but if you want a Sierra that performs well we recommend you keep going!
Step 4 - Tone down visual effects
Difficulty: Moderate
Apple uses some fancy eye candy to make the Sierra UI (User Interface) a real treat for the eyes. But if Sierra is slow, it feels more like a trick than a treat.
To give Sierra a speed boost you can turn off transparency and motion effects. This is particularly effective if macOS 10.12 is running on older hardware.
To turn off effects in Sierra follow these instructions:
- Navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Display
- Turn on 'Reduce Motion' and 'Reduce Transparency'
You should now experience a snappier Sierra experience.
In our next step we’re going to show you how to take out the trash. Afterall, a clean Sierra is a fast Sierra!
Step 5 - Clean up full Mac hard drive to speed up Sierra
Difficulty: Moderate
Macs use available storage space on hard drives for the smooth running of the OS. When there isn’t much free space and your drive is almost full, Sierra will start running slow.
If you’ve seen the macOS 'Your disk is almost full' notification then you’vedefinitely got a problem that needs fixing. You can click the 'Manage' buttonon the notification, and it will take you to the Optimize Storage features.
Convert mp4 to mp3 for mac. Convert MP4 to MP3 on Mac, of course, do this in a way keeping the original file quality.
A better solution would be to use CleanMyMac X, which has a bunch of tools to clean up your drive. With just a couple clicks you can clear out the junk and free up a ton of storage space for smoother operations.
Here’s how to easily remove hard drive junk:
- Launch CleanMyMac X
- Click on the Smart Scan tab
- Let the app analyze your system and when it’s finished select Clean
Can you believe how much free space you have now? Your Mac should be running much better after the first 5 steps but if Sierra is still slow it’s time to get serious.
These next steps are a bit more difficult but you’ve made it this far. Don’t stop now!
Step 6 - Reset your SMC
Difficulty: Hard
'Reset my what?' SMC stands for System Management Controller, and a reset can solve extreme levels of slowness as well as battery faults and some other hardware faults like problems with your fan.
You should only take this step if everything else has failed to speed up Sierra.
Start by closing all apps (force-quit with Command-Option-Escape if necessary) and shut down your system.
SMC reset instructions for Mac notebook:
- With your Mac shut down, plug in the power cord
- Press the power button while holding down Shift-Control-Option at the same time
- Let go and start your Mac up like normal
SMC reset instructions for Mac desktop:
- Shutdown your Mac and unplug it
- Plug it back in after 5 seconds
- Wait 5 more seconds and then start your Mac as normal
Be honest, you thought that would be much harder didn’t you? If you reset your SMC you can definitely reset your PRAM/VRAM. That’s the next step!
Step 7 - Reset PRAM/NVRAM
Difficulty: Hard
NVRAM stands for 'non-volatile random-access memory.' 'P' used to stand for Parameter in older Macs where it is called PRAM. Resetting NVRAM is generally recommended when your Mac is behaving strangely. Things like your Mac starting with the wrong disk, screen resolution issues, or wonky battery charge reporting. If you’re not sure if you need it, there’s no harm in giving it a try just in case.
Follow these instructions to perform a PRAM/NVRAM reset:
- Turn your Mac on from a shutdown state
- When the startup chimes press Command+Option+P+R at the same time
- Hold them until your Mac restarts and you hear the startup sound again
- Let go of the keys
You’ve done it again. There are only two more steps left. Don’t stop now!
Step 8 - Speed Up Sierra’s Startup
Difficulty: Hard
If starting up macOS Sierra is taking too long it might be because you have too many startup items. Some apps you’ll want starting with Sierra, but others would be better off waiting till you open them.
You could use Step 3 to keep manually closing down these apps but that sounds like a waste of time to us. To stop macOS Sierra startup apps and items, follow these instructions:
- Navigate to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items
- Tick the apps you don’t want loading at startup
- Click the '-' button to remove the selected apps from startup
If you want even more control use CleanMyMac to easily deselect startup items or completely remove them from your macOS:
- Launch CleanMyMac
- Click the Optimization tab
- Click on 'Login Items'
- Click enabled/disabled to choose what apps load on startup and what apps don’t
- If you never use an app you can also click the check box on the left and then click Remove
Congratulations, you’ve made it to the top of the ladder. You’ve taken every step to speed up Sierra. If macOS is still slow, it’s probably that your hardware is old. In the final step we’ll show you what you can do about it.
Speed Disk For Mac Installer
Step 9 - Upgrade hardware to SSD
Difficulty: Very Hard
If your Mac doesn’t have a SSD (Solid State Drive) then this single change would give you the greatest Sierra performance boost. SSDs are significantly faster than normal mechanical drives and they’re also less likely to fail.
Things to consider when shopping for a new SSD:
Speed Disk For Mac Osx
- What size do you need? Nothing smaller than your current system drive.
- What is your budget? SSDs are more expensive than regular drives.
- Is the drive Mac-friendly? If so it will make it easier to keep your drive’s firmware updated and performing smoothly.
With all the different Mac models out there it would be hard to give you a step-by-step instruction. But if you search for your model + 'how to add SSD' you should find the instructions you need.
Or better yet, get a professional to install it for you.
Get macOS Sierra running faster
With the solutions above you should be able to easily transform your macOS Sierra from a slug to a responsive and snappy Mac that is a joy to use.
Just remember that over time, problems that slow down Sierra will build up. Bookmark this page so you can return to these solutions if you have the need.
Alternatively, just regularly run CleanMyMac’s range of optimization and cleaning tools to keep macOS Sierra from getting slow.