April 1999
TEST drive
By Lowell Rapaport & Liz Levy
CD Changer Saves Cache
The DRM-6NX is a six-disc, network attached CD-ROM changer with 5.1 GB of built-in hard drive cache. Introduced late last year by Pioneer (Long Beach, CA), itıs an affordable ($2,850) storage solution for departments and small businesses that want to avoid the expense of servers, small jukeboxes and/or CD towers.
Setting up the DRM-6NX was easy. The DRM-6NX incorporates a standard network interface for direct connection to 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps Ethernet networks. We simply connected it to a TCP/IP network. The unit has an HTML-based administrator that can be accessed via a Web browser. It starts up with a volume and file view. Clicking on the administration button gives you access to the unitıs operating system.
The unitıs internal hard drive gives you online access to up to nearly 8 CDs worth of data, but thereıs a SCSI interface that gives you a range of expansion options. Pioneer offers a SCSI-interface CD changer without internal caching called the DRM-6324X. Priced at $495, itıs very affordable and it gives you access to six more discs. You could also add external DVD drives or, even better, external hard drives for expanded caching capacity. You can daisy chain up to five additional devices.
A ıThis Serverı screen on the administrator gives you a view of all the devices connected to the DRM-6NX. Other elements of the HTML administrator let you assign password protection, access permissions and conduct disc management. A ıNetwork Settingsı screen lets you set the cache changer up manually if you know what youıre doing; thereıs a setup wizard that will help if you need help. The DRM-6NX supports TCP/IP, Netware and Windows networking protocols.
Once set up, the changer showed up in the Network Neighborhood as the Pioneer 39000a, and each CD in the unit was listed as a separate folder. Mapping the DRM-6NX for drive letter access to the Windows desktop is as easy as mapping any networked drive.
The most important feature of the DRM-6NX is its ability to cache entire CDs. By default, the unit is set to mirror CDs on its internal hard drive. These mirrored CDs persist even after the CD is removed. Optionally, you cache only the CD directories or you can turn caching off completely. File caching is not yet supported but is planned as a firmware upgrade. Firmware updates will be downloadable from Pioneerıs Website (www.pioneer-america.com).
Users can also keep additional CD-ROMs handy by simply housing them in Pioneerıs six-disc magazines. These magazines can be catalogued and stored off line. The unit has no mail slot, so when you want to add a CD, you have to eject the six-disc magazine, add (or swap) CDs, and then remount the magazine. The magazines arenıt really designed to be continuously swapped in and out of the system; if such are your access needs, youıre probably better off with a jukebox.
A magazine with six CDs can take more than a minute and a half to mount. Moreover, only one CD can be accessed at a time. Swap time takes a good 15 seconds. Without caching, the DRM-6NX would be very slow.
With caching, however, the DRM-6NX comes into its own. Caching makes it less necessary to swap CDs, and multiple, simultaneous users are better supported. By adding one or more 9 GB or 18 GB external hard drive(s), you could incrementally expand online cache capacity by the equivalent of 12- or 24-CDsı worth of data each drive.
The caching feature transforms the DRM-6NX from a basic, networkable CD changer to a low-cost substitute for CD Towers and small jukeboxes. Itıs less expensive than a tower and faster than a low-end jukebox without cache.
-- Lowell Rapaport & Liz Levy
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