EZ 135 Drive: Another alternative for flexible storage

EZ 135 Drive: Another alternative for flexible storage

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): There are three words that always stay on top of the wish list of any serious computer user: Faster, bigger and cheaper. The word durable doesn't even seem to be on this list, since most computer users can't really expect to be using the same components in three years time that they bought last week.

In the area of fixed storage media, for example, hard disk capacity has increased tremendously. Go and try to get a new 540 MB hard disk today and, if you're lucky enough to get one, the chances are it's not exactly brand new. On the market today, the smallest new hard disks likely to be found that are sure to be sparkling new will be the ones in the 850 MB range. In general, one GB seems to be the current norm. A lot of new notebooks today even come standard with a 720 MB hard disk.

All this seemingly ultra-spacious storage comes directly from the vendors despite the current trends for more and more PCs and notebooks to be offered with a built-in, high-speed CD ROM drive and the ability to run more and more software directly from this drive (CorelDRAW! 6.0 is one of the new software programs that can be run from the CD ROM). So why do we need more storage space? Because people want it bigger and faster, that's why. In addition, multimedia files are space gobblers and people now keep more and more of them on their computer.

In addition to the above trends, a booming market is also emerging for removable storage media. There has already been much discussion on the benefits of removable media, highlighting its transportability, unlimited expandability, data security and low cost per megabyte. Suffice it to say that removable cartridges are increasingly in vogue these days.

In this area, removable drives based on the proven Winchester technology are still favored because of their faster access rate, although magneto-optical technology has improved significantly enough for the performance of today's MO drives to be on a par with the sub-20 msec hard disks of just a couple of years ago.

In the category of storage media, the ZIP drive from Iomega is the de facto favorite among most users. Ever since its birth, computer magazines have been using ZIP as the standard against which they compare other removable storage devices. But now ZIP may have a rival, who is none other than SyQuest!

EZ 135 Drive

After testing it, courtesy of PT Memori Primatama, it's pretty obvious that this new EZ 135 Drive was intended to be SyQuest's answer to the sudden and immense popularity of ZIP. SyQuest removable drives and cartridges have been around for a long time, and it must have given them a scare when ZIP's popularity suddenly outstripped theirs. Two models are available, one is internal and the other external. The internal one uses an IDE interface, while the external type uses an SCSI 2.

The internal EZ 135 Drive's physical design is not different from the older SQ270 or SQ105 models. The cartridge has a 3.5" form factor, which is also no different from the older ones. It can hold up to 135 MB. I tested the external type.

I first connected it to the AdvanSys AdvanSCSI card which was already on my system. The drive was immediately recognized during BIOS boot up. However, subsequently no volume label was assigned to it, and it remained inaccessible. I wasn't even able to install its software driver. It turned out that EZ 135 Drive's software driver was not compatible with AdvanSys' ASPI manager (an ASPI manager is the software that controls the SCSI subsystem). Because of this incompatibility, I had to replace the AdvanSys SCSI card with an Adaptec AHA 2940. I mounted both Adaptec ASPI.SYS and ASPIDISK.SYS in the CONFIG.SYS. Only then was I able to install SyQuest' driver properly. After that things worked smoothly.

This experience tells us that EZ 135 Drive works well with the very popular but rather expensive Adaptec AHA 2940. However it is necessary to have Adaptec's EZ-SCSI software driver to enable it to operate perfectly. Interestingly, Adaptec EZ-SCSI is not bundled with AHA 2940; it has to be bought separately.

The EZ 135 Drive is adapted for use with a Mac. Just connect it to a Macintosh's SCSI port with the supplied SCSI cable, and the Mac will immediately recognize it. No software driver or installation hassle is necessary.

On the plus side

The EZ 135 Drive has a power switch button, which the ZIP drive doesn't. It allows us to power down the drive without having to unplug the power adaptor. However, if you have a hard disk with a larger SCSI ID number (for instance, your EZ 135 Drive is drive D: and your SCSI hard disk is drive E:), you'll want to keep it powered up so that your hard disk won't become drive D: resulting in your Windows not being able to find the E: drive your applications not loading.

The case is sturdy. It measures 2.08" by 4.80" by 8.45" (HWL). At 1.05 kg, it's heavy, too, as opposed to ZIP. The cartridge looks similar to older 3.5" SyQuest cartridges, although they're not interchangeable. The EZ 135 Drive will not take them in.

The access speed is this drive's strong point. SyQuest claims that its average seek time is 13.5 msec, its burst data transfer rate is 4.0 MB/sec, and its sustained maximum transfer rate is 2.4 MB/sec. With this kind of performance, we can install application software on this drive and still get a snappy response.

If you use the internal model, you won't have to buy a SCSI 2 adaptor. You can even use it as the boot drive for your system.

On the downside

The external EZ 135 Drive is actually an internal drive that comes with SyQuest's own case. Because of this, it is bulkier than it should be. ZIP, on the other hand, is meant to be an external drive, and therefore the design is more streamlined and more attractive. SyQuest still paints the case traditional dark gray, while Iomega chose a more attractive and up-to-date dark blue for its ZIP cases.

Furthermore, unlike ZIP, EZ 135 Drive cannot be put on its side. I wish that SyQuest had designed the external case so that the drive can be positioned vertically. It can be done with ZIP, and it saves some desktop space.

Finally, given the size of the case, I suppose that, actually, the power adaptor could be built in so that the drive could be made more portable. Finally, inserting and ejecting the cartridge are tedious processes. With the ZIP, there's just one button to press. With the EZ 135 Drive two operations are involved.

Final word

If speed is crucial the EZ 135 Drive is a good choice. At less than Rp750,000 for a package containing the drive, a blank 135 MB cartridge, a power adaptor, and a SCSI cable, it's reasonably priced. You will need to have a compatible SCSI adaptor on your system, though. If you work with both a PC and a Mac, the EZ 135 Drive will fit the bill nicely, because it is perfectly plug-and- play friendly with the Mac.

In many aspects, the ZIP is better. Unfortunately it is not widely available here in Jakarta, which means there may be difficulty finding technical support if the drive fails or if one encounters incompatibility problems. On the other hand, SyQuest EZ 135 Drives are widely available because SyQuest now has two big distributors for Indonesia. It means that good technical support should be available. Besides, at less than Rp 80,000 per cartridge, the EZ 135 Drive's price/performance ratio is comparable with ZIP. Therefore, if you need a removable storage medium today for scanned images and scanned text for documentation purposes, large databases, DTP files, fast backup, or a video and sound clips collection, the EZ 135 Drive is your best bet.