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.