Path: cdrom.com!barrnet.net!sgiblab!swrinde!gatech!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!unixg.ubc.ca!healthvision!lharris From: lharris@healthvision.ca (Lawrence Harris, lharris@HealthVISION.ca, (604) 244-3256) Newsgroups: comp.sys.novell,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.networking,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.cd-rom,comp.multimedia,alt.cd-rom Subject: Re: Does Novell 3.12 .. CD ROM Networking -- use hard disk Message-ID: <1994Mar9.153612.120@healthvision> Date: 9 Mar 94 15:36:12 PST References: Organization: HealthVISION Corporation, Richmond, B.C. Canada Lines: 36 Xref: cdrom.com comp.sys.novell:5369 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.networking:791 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.cd-rom:1658 comp.multimedia:2472 alt.cd-rom:1497 In article , elliott@dseg.ti.com writes: > > I am preparing to network 7-21 CD-ROMs on a Novell 3.11 Network for my > kids school library. It appeared that I needed a product such as > CD-NET, Optinet, or SCSI Express to properly network the CDs. However, > I have heard that the new Novell 3.12 has the capability to handle CDs > as hard disks, thus eliminating the need for these add-on products. I > couldn't find any mention of 3.12 in the cdromlan.faq. > > Comments or suggestions? > Are you suggesting that you will have one drive and up to 21 titles or are you looking at up to 21 drives on the server? Shared CD Roms tend to be a bit slow if more that one user is accessing the drive at the same time. A friend of mine recently suggested that he though the simple solution to networked CD Roms would be to purchase a large capacity hard disk such as the new Seagate 5 Gig drive and copy the CD Rom titles onto it. The drive itself then is just a normal disk and the access speed is an order of magnitude faster. Depending on the actual capacity of the CD Roms you were using it would hold a minimum of 8 600Meg CD's and I know many of the CD titles I own are far short of the full 600Meg capacity of the disk. It might be quite a bit cheaper as well depending on the cost of the CD Rom drives. The only thing I can think of that will not work is CD Audio sound but that would not be available from a netorked CD drive anyway. Just a thought, anyone else? Lawrence lharris@HealthVISION.ca