Is new Zip worth it?

[hmurchison]

http://www.clubarne.com/pics/zip750.jpg

750MB is nice but this drive could get steep competiton from Fujitu MO drives which are at 2.6GB albeit slower than this Zip rated at 8MBps.

[Bodhi]

DVD and CDR. Stay away from Zip, it's dying a slow death if you ask me.

[alcimedes]

hmm, i'd have to disagree there, although maybe it's because the university i'm at bought so many to start with.

we have a pile of zips here, and that's pretty much all people use now to transfer files back and forth.

i still don't think cd's are to the point where people really feel comfortable using them, and there just seems like it's not right to burn and then toss away a cd, no matter how cheap they are.

as for a 750 MB zip, that's a bit overboard, unless it's the same price as a reg. 100 or 250 zip.

here's the thing, zips have replaced floppies for the most part where i'm at, as people are transferring around all sorts of 8 to 12 MB files. cd's are nicer once you start talking about files that large though, or external drives.

-alcimedes

[EmAn]

To me Zips are like floppies. Haven't used them in so long and they're pretty useless. CDs are fine for me.

[jesperas]

Worth of zips depends on how they're used, I suppose. They're still more convenient that CDRs for simple file transfer.

My company has mostly switched to CDRs, though, because I guess someone decided that not having a $1 CDR returned by a vendor is a lot better than not having an $11 zip returned.

But I agree. 750MB is overkill for a zip. I've used my zip at home about twice in the last six months since buying a DVD/CDRW, so I'm thinking about selling my zip 250 and using that money for a USB flash drive instead.

[MicrosoftOsXp]

Zip drives aren't in wide enough use to be worth it. And a 750mb zip drive/disk makes it even more obscure. If your just using it for backups, go with cds or a portable hard drive.


But, then again it really depends on what you are going to use it for.

[Frank777]

If Iomega did the honorable (and smart) thing and allowed third parties to make disks royalty free, Zip drives would give CD-Rs a good run for their money.

They would still make money on the drive sales. If however, they're going to try the old subsidize the razor - charge more for the blades strategy, don't bother buying one, 'cause they won't be around for long...

[Matsu]

I got me some directCD formatted CDrw's (533MB, but I got 'em for free) and they work like a charm on my windows PC.

Between Apple's drag and drop burning and Roxio you should be able to do even better with a Mac. Properly formatted, a CDrw disc or two, should handle all your drag and drop burning/back-up/file-transfer needs. It's just like a big (but slow) floppy, well it's faster than a floppy, but still, 4X is nothing to write home about.

[steve666]

As long as there isn't drag and drop sessions burning for the Mac, where you can drag files off and on a CDRW as easily as you can do it on the zip, then I will feel a need to own a Zip.................

[rampancy]

[quote]Originally posted by steve666:
<strong>As long as there isn't drag and drop sessions burning for the Mac, where you can drag files off and on a CDRW as easily as you can do it on the zip, then I will feel a need to own a Zip.................</strong><hr></blockquote>

You can do this right now...sort of.

1. Make a .dmg
2. Put files in
3. Burn it on a blank CD (-RW) from DiscCopy.app !!!!
4. Make another .dmg
5. Put some other files in
6. Burn this .dmg again from DiscCopy.app
7. Repeat 4.-6. as many times you can until the disc is full

from: <a href="http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20020718080952616" target="_blank">http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20020718080952616</a>

Not as easy as Toast, but hey, it works.

[BrianMacOS]

I haven't used any short of iomega since the first Zip 100 back when I had my Pentium 100.

[steve666]

&gt;You can do this right now...sort of.
1. Make a .dmg
2. Put files in
3. Burn it on a blank CD (-RW) from DiscCopy.app !!!!
4. Make another .dmg
5. Put some other files in
6. Burn this .dmg again from DiscCopy.app
7. Repeat 4.-6. as many times you can until the disc is full
from: <a href="http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20020718080952616" target="_blank">http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20020718080952616</a>
Not as easy as Toast, but hey, it works.&lt;

You kinda reiterated my point. :)
As soon as I can drag and drop to and from a CDRW, Zips will live on. Zips are easy as pie...................

[Overhope]

I still get regular use from my Zip for anything that's too big to send via email but not worth a CD: there's still something that I don't like about trashing a CD-R for 80MB of files...

[BrianMacOS]

For as much as the cdr discs cost now who cares. They are cheap.

[serrano]

CDR

[Cubit]

I thought the original zip too skimpy, so I used the SuperDisk by Imation, since that was common in Japan. The 250 zip with firewire won me over and I'm using them in a PowerBook Pismo via VST bay drive, with 2 Cubes, and an iMac DV. I would have included one in a PowerMac tower had I ever decided to go to the Bigger is Beautiful Side. I held out and now the new PM don't have the build to order option.

I doubt I will add a 3rd standard to my Zip life; I learned from the SuperDisk which stopped selling in the US. I'll transfer via .Mac!

[alcimedes]

you know, i think here's the biggest factor.

how long does it take to copy a 6MB file to a zip disk?

how long does it take to burn a 6MB file to a zip disk?

cd's take way longer. (gotta close that sucker out)

on top of that, what if you want to copy, delete, copy, delete etc. all off of a single drive?

i know it's stupid, but i still think it bothers people to be throwing stuff out all the time after they use it once, not to mention the pain in the ass it is to keep track of twelve cd's you've burned over the course of a week vs. one zip.

once you're talking anything over 80MB cd's start to catch up again, IMO.

i just see so many large powerpoint files being transferred that zips are by far the best option at this point.

[trevorM]

[quote]Originally posted by Bodhi:
<strong>DVD and CDR. Stay away from Zip, it's dying a slow death if you ask me.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Yeah I am inclined to think the same!
It's so much easier to use CD-R/RW media now as most people have CD burners over floppys*

Speaking of floppies, I dont know the last time I used a floppy!

Regards
unregistered trevorM <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />

[O and A]

slow death ey? no its dead

have two zip drive haven't used them in tow years. High speed connections and cd buring make them useless

[Frank777]

I can't believe Iomega released this thing without the ability to read 100MB disks. What on earth are they thinking? <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />

[Matsu]

Where does it say it doesn't support 100MB discs?

Not that it matters since the drive is irrelevant, but you know...

[pscates]

Yeah, they HAVE to realize there are tons more 100MB Zips out there than 250MB ones!

:confused:

Personally, I dig Zip disks. I've had a 100MB USB Zip Drive since I've had my first iMac (February 2000), and had a SCSI model before that one that I used with my Quadra 610.

I certainly don't use them for longterm archiving/storage (I'm not crazy!), but - IMO - there's nothing quicker and easier to use for shuttling or transporting files.

Granted, unlike many of you, I'm not doing super-duper high-res Photoshop stuff. Nor am I working in video or other space-hogging mediums.

But to throw some Illustrator stuff on, a few mp3s, some writings, a couple of downloaded utilities/shareware, a Quicken data file, fonts, etc., I'd MUCH rather copy it to a Zip disk, go where I'm going, copy it to the other machine and be done with it.

I'm not going to sit and waste time burning (and wasting) a CD for 28MB worth of stuff!

I do think this new (750MB) model is going to flop. Nobody really cares, things have moved on. As a matter of fact, most everything Iomega has done SINCE the original 100MB Zip drive has been a wash-out.

:)

I think they could, as a company, get really small and tight and simply do what they do (did?) best: go back and just do the 100MB Zips.

Great for students, consumers, beginners, writers, shuttling stuff to work and back, etc.

100MB is a nice, large enough and even number. Besides, those are the drives that are out there in the largest numbers.

Just put all their energy/focus into making them faster, more reliable (eliminate that "click of death" syndrome), more affordable and compatible with all platforms and interfaces and OS's.

Everyone I know still uses - and likes - little 100MB Zip disks. They're just simple and hassle-free to use.

I can throw 40MB or so on one and be out the door in less time than it would take me to burn a CD of that amount (plus, when I get where I'm going, if I want to put OTHER stuff on that CD, I can't).

Zips are cool for what they are. And if you use them for the right purposes.

[Matsu]

Why can't you put other stuff on the CD?

Leave the session open. Use CDrw. Speeds are pretty fast now.

I've been using the 16X in my brother's gateway. Adding a session here and there. Works fine on his computer and mine (with crappy 4X sony drive)

Is this a mac problem?

Anyway, the 16X takes all of 5 minutes to do a full 700MB disc. 40-50 megs takes about 20 seconds.

I don't get it? What's the problem with CD r/w ???

[pscates]

I've got an LCD SuperDrive iMac. The CD-R on it is 8x. It writes CD-RW at 4x.

I honestly spend more time waiting for the blank disc to get initialized or whatever then for it to burn THEN for the verification, etc. than I would to just throw in on a Zip.

It's a case-by-case basis, and I often DO burn things to CD for transport. But if it's under 80MBs, I usually just grab one of my 8 100MB Zip disks and fling it all on there. While it's copying, I go pee or grab a soda or something.

:)

Just a personal preference, that's all. No big deal.

Although, everywhere that I go in my Mac-using life, I have a Zip drive there, waiting for me. I don't have (in most cases) a CD-R, so...

Bringing stuff BACK with me gets tough without a Zip. That's another big reason.

[alcimedes]

often times on PC's and Macs you can't read an open session if the person on the other end doesn't have the same cd burning software.

close the cd session and you're fine, but that takes another 2 min.

then with cd-rw you have the problem that you can't read the cd's unless the other person also has a burner. often not the case.

zips are the easiest solution still in a wide variety of situations.

[murbot]

You should get Toast, Paul. No initializing, and you can really skip the verifying... no one bothers with that anymore. ;)

[serrano]

I've got a 24x slapped in my tower, on top of an USELESS zip drive, jesus i wish it was another full drive bay so i could put my cdrom back in... guess i need a new tower ;)

i used zips when they were only 100mb, they we're great then. i had a 250mb hard drive in my 6100/60- i stored all my mp3's on the zip and played them through MacAMP... sweetness. the problem with zips is that not everyone has them... i end up burning or just emailing stuff for people... my friends have cable and so do i so for most stuff i just ftp it...

there are so many less expensive options to zip that the utility of it is kind of lost in the price

[AllenChristopher]

It's not so cheap to throw CDs away in Canada. The Feds slapped a levy on all recording media to compensate Canadian music artists for losses due to piracy. It's ridiculous twice over: by far, most discs are used for business purposes and/or storing one's own intellectual property, and not a cent of the money collected in two and a half years has been paid to any intellectual property owner.

It's not a huge levy per disc, but it really adds up. On a cheap disc it can double the price.

That said, if you feel bad throwing things away, don't CD-RWs work? Are other people having trouble erasing those with which I'm not familiar? They are supposed to work dozens of times, no? I've never hit the limit before losing or lending the disc... Of course the speed problem is compounded, but the fastest write is one you don't have to do a second time when you find out you need the file again on a computer without a Zip drive.

I'm no zealot either way. I've just purchased several of these alternative drives over and never have I known when writing a file that the recipient also had one. It's such a long shot I never think to ask. Therefore, no chance to use them. About a grand wasted over ten years. I always know a CD will be there, and I've only had two problems with CD-RWs not reading.

Of course, I'm given to understand that conditions are right in the closets of professional graphics designers for these drives to actually copulate and spawn young, and we all know that educational institutions are self-contained equipment universes that significantly affect the perceptions of those contained therein. I may very well not be on the same planet as you.

[ 08-16-2002: Message edited by: AllenChristopher ]</p>

[Matsu]

CDrw doesn't work in regular CD drives?

Mine seem to work. Yeah, my bad, about the sessions, but you can still close the session without closing the CD.

It seems like 100Mb discs are cool if you got 'em from way back when CD burning was neither fast nor cheap, so as pscates pointed out, why not keep using them. But I don't think I would look to keep updating the technology.

It's really a shame that manufacturers couldn't agree on ONE flash memory format. We'd have had some kind of flash slot in all computers by now, and it would have been ideal. You buy the amount of storage you need and it all works in the same slot whether it's 8MB or 8GB.

Oh well, maybe USB thumb-drives will supercede most of our writeable personal information transport needs. I've read that there are driverless USB thumb-drives out there. Do they work? This would be ideal in a multi-platform application. Heck, even in a single platform, you never know if the computer you're going to has appropriate drivers.

If driverless thumb-drives are not really 'driverless' but rather some sort of marketing spin, then such support would seem to be a good thing to build into USB via firmware. A firmware update spec that makes all USB devices support thumb-drives.

[alcimedes]

[quote]CDrw doesn't work in regular CD drives?<hr></blockquote>


don't know if this is still the case across the board, but back in the old days the only cd rom drives that could read RW discs were drives that were also burners. regular CD drives couldn't read them.

i must also interject that i work at a large universiry, and it does make a big difference. 5 years (7 years?) ago someone decided that zip drives would be a good idea across the board. now all the entrenched machines have them, so new machines tend to get them as well. i have 40,000+ people using zip disks within a 20 mile radius, so they're pretty popular here.

i suppose that could make a difference on perception. :D

[hmurchison]

http://www.fcpa.fujitsu.com/products/mo-drives/img/dynaMO_1300u2_2300u2.gif

How would a Zip compete against this. Not only do I have 1.3GB currently but the 2.3GB version is shipping this fall.

The media is much more reliable. And it's backwards compatible all the way back to 128MB Discs

[Matsu]

Thumb drives for small to medium files. USB to USB, it's everywhere now. Simple.

CD/DVD rw for everything else. They'll soon be everywhere (especially CD). Simple.

All other media can and should just drop dead already. Except tape formats, studios still need those.