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Currently Playing: MO Disks on NeXT - The Idea Was Brilliant. The Reality… Not So Much [Part 3]

Sponsored by PCBWay: https://pcbway.com/g/ynWgss In 1988, Steve Jobs unveiled the NeXT Computer with a bold promise: magneto-optical storage would revolutionize mass storage. Entire operating systems and user data — all on rugged, removable 256 MB disks. It sounded futuristic. But… it didn’t last. Why? In this episode, I take a deep dive into how MO technology actually worked — from lasers and magnetic fields to the harsh reality of boot performance and hardware quirks. And because I don’t own a NeXT Cube, I recreate the experience using a third-party MO drive on a NeXTstation Color — comparing it head-to-head with a mid-1990s Iomega Jaz drive. In this episode: 00:00 Intro 01:33 Retrospective: Magneto-Optical Technology 02:51 How Magneto-Optical Drives Work 04:19 NeXT & MO: Design Flaws and Drawbacks 06:13 Building A NeXTSTEP MO Boot Disk 10:07 Iomega Jaz: Building A NeXTSTEP Bootdisk 10:11 Going Back In Time: Trying NeXTSTEP 2.0 12:13 Conclusion 12:32 NeXT On THE PHINTAGE COLLECTOR 🔔 Subscribe for more retro hardware adventures! Want to join THE PHINTAGE SUPPORTERS or THE PHINTAGE ENTHUSIASTS community and get a mention in an upcoming video? Learn more here: https://www.youtube.com/@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR/join This video was made possible with support by: THE PHINTAGE ENTHUSIASTS: Alisha Manuela Stutz Christian Zerrahn David Schell Ernesto Leonardo Bertola Waseem al sammane ZyeByteVT THE PHINTAGE SUPPORTERS: Balint Szikszay Brian Repinski CaffeinePizza Cecil Chip Smith Cinemint Music Clank Elinars GrayT! ihartmacz Jack Beckman Jack Rosenthal Luke Granger-Brown Matthew Veety Mlok Karel MS-DOS Manfred nadrazhul Steven Glogger Wobinu Films xcalibur839 Z098 Visit also THE PHINTAGE COLLECTOR website at https://www.thephintagecollector.ch for insights into my retro computer collection. This presentation, Copyright @ 2025 THE PHINTAGE COLLECTOR, Gianpaolo Del Matto. All rights reserved. Individual Copyrights apply for referenced material (see sources). Music composed by 🎶 Abdallah El-Ghannam https://www.youtube.com/@AcrossTheU.S.A | https://www.fiverr.com/abdallahghannam 🎶 rootkitty | https://soundcloud.com/rootkitty ℹ️ Sources: NeXT Hardware & Service Docs: https://sharebrained.com/vintage/computer/next/cube/ https://www.userlandia.com/home/2022/11/next-accessory-kit https://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Docs/Hardware/NeXTServiceManualPages1-160_OCR.pdf Forum Threads & Community Discussions: https://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/index.php?topic=2502.msg14267#msg14267 https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/anyone-got-a-next-cube-with-a-functioning-mo-drive.38328/ Byte Magazine, NeXT Review, 1988 https://ia801405.us.archive.org/18/items/byte-1988-11-next/byte-1988-11-next.pdf MO Drive Technology (How It Works, Reliability, History): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magneto-optical_drive https://linuxjedi.co.uk/magneto-optical-drives/ https://maxoptix.com/magneto-optical-storage-lives-on/ https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/128mb-magneto-optical-disks.12358/ https://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/magneto-optical-storage/ https://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/imprint_downloads/informit/que/upgrading/fifteenth_edition/book_samples/sc12_0789729741.pdf NeXT MO Drive Usage, Repair, and History: https://www.userlandia.com/home/2022/11/next-accessory-kit https://sharebrained.com/vintage/computer/next/cube/ https://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/index.php?topic=2502.msg14267#msg14267 https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/magneto-optical-drive-recap-and-repair.31570/ https://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Docs/Hardware/NeXTServiceManualPages1-160_OCR.pdf https://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/index.php?topic=4427.0 https://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/index.php?topic=4218.0 Booting, Installation & OS Compatibility on NeXT: https://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/index.php?topic=2502.0 https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/anyone-got-a-next-cube-with-a-functioning-mo-drive.38328/ https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/next-cube-hd-installation.32257/ https://winworldpc.com/product/nextstep/20 https://bitsavers.org/pdf/next/software/NEXTSTEP/3.3/NEXTSTEP_3.3_Install_&_Config.pdf https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/next-magneto-optical-install-methods.32402/