SyQuest fights back with EZFlyer 230MB removable

SyQuest fights back with EZFlyer 230MB removable

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): The war in the removable data storage industry
seems to rage on, and it's quite easy to understand why. With
multimedia becoming a household word, computer users need larger
and larger storage data media to transport their file from one
machine to another. Furthermore, with the onslaught of
increasingly versatile digital cameras, we will soon be using our
computers not only for handling audio and video data, but also
for storing high-resolution color photographs. These, plus so
many other uses of the computer, require an ever-increasing
amount of storage space. We love the flexibility of having a
removable storage device on our system, since it allows us to buy
more cartridges and thereby increase our total storage space if
and when it becomes necessary to do so.

The old magnetic tape backup system is an option that has not
died yet. HP Colorado tape backup, for instance, is still alive
and kicking, and so are so many others. However, this type of
device is more suitable for backing up massive amounts of data,
such as data banks and data bases. The tape's biggest shortcoming
is that it is very slow, making it the right choice for storing
backup files that you use only in an emergency. For files that
you use often, you need a much faster alternative. It might as
well be a removable device.

Two names have been leading the pack of high-speed, removable
storage makers for quite some time: Iomega and SyQuest. Both have
established a long history in providing PC and Mac users with
high-quality and affordable removable alternatives to hard disks.
Iomega created a success story with its still very popular Zip, a
100 MB diskette-like storage device. Recently, the company also
came up with a fast, high-capacity storage device called Jaz,
which also has created a lot of stir in the industry. SyQuest, on
the other hand, has been the storage medium of choice among
people who work in graphics publishing for many, many years.

With its EZ135 Drive, SyQuest obviously tried to recapture the
market of affordable removable storage that had been stolen by
Zip. However, since this particular drive was basically an
internal device packaged in an external enclosure, it apparently
has not been as successful as Iomega's Zip. It has also become
obvious that most people prefer the aesthetic superiority of the
latter. But now, with its new removable drive called EZFlyer 230,
SyQuest may finally have something that will lure computer users
into buying its product.

Courtesy of Memori Primatama, I was able to play around with
the parallel port version of SyQuest's new 230 MB removable
storage hard drive. It was the successor of the EZ135 Drive that
I reviewed not too long ago. By the way, such a short product
life cycle once again provides a powerful testimony of how
competitive the market for this type of computer peripheral is.

Deja Vu

In its effort to regain dominance of the market, SyQuest seems
to be adopting exactly the features that make its competitor's
product sell so well. Take a look at the accompanying picture,
which I scanned from the top of the drive's box, and you'll also
see that -- unlike the older EZ135 Drive -- the new EZFlyer 230
looks more like the Zip drive. The enclosure is much sleeker and
slimmer than the EZ135 Drive, and more stylish too. It was
designed based on end-user feedback. These end-users must have
been so enamored by Zip's look. Like Zip, EZFlyer also has a
clear window on top so that you'll be able to check which of your
cartridges is being spun.

Also like Zip, the unit can be put standing on its side next
to your CPU so that it wouldn't have to consume too much of your
desktop space. The parallel cable connections at the back of the
box are clearly labeled. The supplied parallel cable connects the
PC to the unit, and the printer cable connects to the other port
on the back. In my test, I had no problem printing to my HP 1600C
using the drive's pass-through connection.

The previous generations of SyQuest drives came with a lever
that made removing or mounting a cartridge a tedious job. To
remove the cartridge, for example, you'd have to first push the
button. Then you had to wait for the cartridge to stop spinning
and the light to become red and the lever then becomes unlocked.
Then you'd have to slide the lever to the left to eject the
cartridge. To mount the cartridge, you had to insert it into the
slot, press it all the way in and slide the lever to the right.
This multiple-step procedure was one of the reasons I gave a nod
to Zip rather than to EZ135 in my past reviews.

Fortunately, SyQuest has learned the lesson and has adopted a
one-step cartridge mounting and removing procedure. With EZFlyer,
you simply open the cover and push the cartridge into its bay
until it drops into its place. To take it out, you just have to
push the small button on the bottom right corner of the drive's
front side. Although long overdue, that's definitely a welcomed
improvement.

In my informal test, the EZFlyer drive worked very fast,
indeed. I copied all the contents of my E:DATA subdirectory to
it, and I didn't have to wait very long for all 452 files,
totaling 128 MB, to be copied. Actually, speed is one of the few
features that has enabled SyQuest drives -- both the EZ135 Drive
and its predecessor -- to stand up against Zip all this time.

According to SyQuest, the new drive's access time is 13.5 ms.
For the EZFlyer SCSI drive, the burst data transfer rate is 4
MB/second, with a maximum sustained rate of 2.4 MB/second. The
parallel port version supports data transfer rates up to 1.25
MB/second, which is the maximum rate for the parallel port. Like
all other SyQuest drives, the high speed is achieved by using the
Winchester hard drive technology. For comparison, Zip's speed is
almost half of that of the EZ135 Drive.

Installation was very simple. I just plugged in all the
cables, turned on my PC and ran the installation program. To my
surprise, I didn't encounter any problems having two SyQuest
drives on the same machine (I have an internal SQ105 drive). The
new device became my G: drive, and I was still able to access the
SQ105 with no problem at all. When I was testing EZ135, on the
other hand, the internal drive had to be disabled.

I have my wishes. First of all, I wish SyQuest had made the
drives more backward compatible. EZFlyer 230 will have no problem
taking an EZ135 Drive cartridge, but not any of the other SyQuest
3.5" cartridges. My 105 MB cartridge, for instance, cannot be
inserted into the EZFlyer. One possible explanation for this lack
of backward compatibility is -- due to its higher speed and
larger capacity -- the format of the hard drive cartridge may be
different. Still, I presume it must not have been impossible for
SyQuest to make EZFlyer also read my 105 MB as well as the other
3.5" SyQuest cartridges.

I also hate power adaptors. I have too many of them already. I
just wonder why the people in Fremont, California have not seen
the practicality of putting the power adaptor inside the unit so
that we would have fewer of these ugly, heat-generating boxes on
our power strips.

Final word

I was informed that, in addition to the parallel-port version,
there would also be the SCSI version of EZFlyer 230. The SCSI
connection gives us more flexibility, as we can add more SCSI
devices as the need arises. On the other hand, the parallel port
version can be used with more than one PC without having to
remove and remount your SCSI adaptor.

As you would guess, the SCSI version will come in two
packages. One is called 'PC-ready', while the other 'PC and Mac-
ready'. The Jakarta price is projected to be around Rp 900,000
for the drive and one cartridge, and around Rp 80,000 for an
additional cartridge. As is the case with all removable data
storage media, the more cartridges you buy, the cheaper the price
per MB of storage space becomes.

If your data keeps overflowing and you need a high-speed
backup solution, this one should be seriously considered. With
more than twice the capacity and the high speed, at the moment
EZFlyer is a clear winner.