{"id":3006,"date":"2023-06-23T12:00:46","date_gmt":"2023-06-23T10:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bananahdd.nl\/?p=3006"},"modified":"2024-01-10T21:08:00","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T20:08:00","slug":"areal-technology-a260-260mb-1995","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bananahdd.nl\/index.php\/2023\/06\/23\/areal-technology-a260-260mb-1995\/","title":{"rendered":"Areal Technology A260 260MB (1995)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Announced in Q4 1992, the A260 was a continued effort from Areal Technology to produce industry leading glass-platter 2.5″ hard disk drives. Perhaps it’s no surprise that Areal stand as a historically significant manufacturer, yet one which isn’t remembered by the major public. Given the rarer nature of their drives, finding one in working condition is quite a challenge, but fortunately this one delivers almost 30 years later.<\/p>\n

The end of 1995 was certainly closing in on Areal’s final days in the industry.<\/p>\n

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Gold is a choice.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
  Drive Attributes<\/strong><\/em>\r\n  -------------------------------------\r\n  Areal Technology A260\r\n  -------------------------------------\r\n  Capacity      260MB\r\n  Mfc Date      1995-12 (week 50)\r\n  Format        2.5\"\r\n  Height        15mm\r\n  Interface     PATA\r\n  Platters      2\r\n  Heads         4\r\n  Cache         32KB\r\n  RPM           ~3000\r\n  Origin        Japan (TTS)\r\n  -------------------------------------<\/pre>\n
The A260 was Areal’s highest-end offering with its release, offering two platters in total. A single platter variant was also available, but is seemingly as uncommon as this model. Curiously, Areal went for a 15mm form factor, as opposed to the more standard 19mm, 17mm or 12.5mm options at the time.<\/p>\n
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The labels.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The label doesn’t provide a lot of information, aside from the point that it looks quite nice. The manufacture date is quite clear, being from week 50 of 1995. Aside from that, the standard CHS values are noted, but nothing in the region of capacity or spindle RPM is present.<\/p>\n
With this drive being designed by Areal Technology in the USA, manufacturing was outsourced to TTS (Sanyo) in Japan. Tomen Devices Corporation acquired Areal Technology in 1993.<\/p>\n
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The rear.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
It’s worth stating that the design of these drives is quite stunning, featuring many gold accents & an overall premium feel. Earlier examples of the A260 would have the PCB flipped, with logic facing outwards, where Areal changed this with later revisions of the A260.<\/p>\n
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Compared with new(ish) & old 2.5″ drives.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
As mentioned earlier, the form factor of this drive is slightly odd. Whilst retaining standard 2.5″ mounting & clearly being of the same format, Areal shortened the drive by a fair degree.<\/p>\n
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Beneath the PCB.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
With the PCB removed, we get a first look at the incredibly gold underside. A design choice that certainly seems overkill, but not in a negative way at all.<\/p>\n
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Searching for gold.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The image above demonstrates how reflective the underside of this drive is, with a very deep gold colour throughout. The air filter is a notable feature of the underside, being placed under the PCB.<\/p>\n
Regarding PCB removal on these drives, they’re beyond fiddly to take apart. The two ribbon cables on the left are socketed (seen below) with very little slack. Suffice to say, I don’t recommend taking the board off unless absolutely necessary.<\/p>\n
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The PCB.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The PCB is fairly loaded, offering some well-known names on the logic side. To the right the two ribbon cable sockets are present, which may further show how difficult this model is to take apart to such a degree.<\/p>\n
Adaptec provided the interface controller (top left, U8, AIC-7166T), the 32KB of cache was supplied by Sony (CXK5827ATM, a single 32KB package), with the central microcontroller being a unit from AT&T (U1, ATT93C010-30). There’s only a single chip bearing Areal’s name, seen at the top-left with part number PN12568, being storage.<\/p>\n
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The PCB rear.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The silkscreen at the bottom suggests these drives have a codename of “Sabre 3”, but of course that’s quite hard to confirm. Aside from this, the PCB provides some useful test points & descriptions.<\/p>\n
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Health results.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A real surprise after almost 30 years, alongside no known unformation when regarding how Areal’s drives hold up without prolonged use, this example is in perfect condition. It’s certainly a keeper!<\/p>\n
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Performance metrics.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Performance is identical to what Areal claimed these could offer in 1992, with no major surprises concerning track access layout.<\/p>\n
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In 1988… Ref: PC Mag, 25th April 1993. [1]<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>Areal Technology’s claim to fame is from their glass-platter breakthrough in the late 1980’s. Tragically, Toshiba beat them to the punch with their first 2.5″ drive, the MK1122FC, bringing glass-platter drives to the masses & beyond (where all of Toshiba’s 2.5″ drives, at least through the 90’s, are glass-platter based). <\/del> Many thanks to the commentor below, Toshiba did not beat Areal to the punch, which is certainly an impressive feat!<\/p>\n
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Press coverage. Ref: TechMonitor.ai\/CBR 20th October 1992 [2]<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>Being released in early-1993, after its announcement in late-1992, $525 (retail) for such a revolutionary model was surprisingly competitive, compared to Toshiba’s offerings with the MK2224FC at $725 for 213MB [1].<\/p>\n
Areal Technology fell from grace shortly after this drive was manufactured, departing from the hard drive industry. Sadly, while this story repeats itself with so many other past industry competitors, the loss of Areal was certainly quite a shame given their innovation in the space.<\/p>\n
If you missed the video I made on this drive, you can find it here:<\/p>\n