ZIP: Could it be your next diskette drive?
By Zatni Arbi
JAKARTA (JP): Just recently, at an office in Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, I was asked to put an Acer 486 33 MHz PC back in order, after a number of viruses had invaded it and after its users had been diligently changing the configuration files. The hard disk was a total mess. They did have original copies of the software programs, but they were just not sure they could install everything properly. Hence the request for help.
But, it was also a truly multi-user PC. In fact, people in that office stood in line and took their turn working on that machine. Unsurprisingly, they gave me plenty of special requests for such and such spreadsheet and so and so word processor to be installed. Even WordStar 4.0 was still needed! "And lots of Anti- virus, too," they added.
I was helpless, because the hard disk they had in that PC was a 203 MB Conner. Microsoft Windows and Office alone would already gobble more than 100 MB of the available space. A quick fix that would probably give me enough hard disk space to install everything they wanted would be Stacker. But I didn't dare use any disk compression in such a free-for-all zone as that office. If I'd used a Stacker, or DoubleSpace, I wouldn't have to wait more than a week to get an SOS call from them.
Now, what would you do in a work environment such as this, where each user uses his own favorite word processor or spreadsheet and religiously refuses to learn any other program? One ideal solution I can think of is to have the hard disk as the boot disk, and a removable medium for all the programs that individual users require.
With this configuration, each user can install their favorite software on one removable medium, whether a cartridge or a high- capacity diskette, and whenever they want to work, all they would have to do is just insert the cartridge into the drive. There will be far less finger-pointing when a virus attacks, or a program gets corrupted, as everybody has his own cartridge and is solely responsible for its health.
Three weeks ago, I reviewed SyQuest removable hard disk drive, one of the feasible alternative for this solution because the cartridge has 105 MB and more storage space, as well as an almost hard-disk level performance. This time, courtesy of PT Bhineka Mentari Dimensi, I was able to test drive two versions of the new ZIP drives from Iomega, the maker of well-known Bernoulli drives. ZIP can easily solve the same problem I mentioned above.
Features
To be honest, having tested a SyQuest drive myself and having been greatly impressed by it, I was a little bit skeptical when ZIP's authorized dealer offered to let me play around with their products for my review. But, the moment I got it working on my test PC, I knew that ZIP would compete squarely with the SyQuest drive of the same storage capacity. Frankly speaking, you might have to flip coin to make the decision which one to buy.
While SyQuest drives are already widely in use, ZIP -- which uses a proprietary technology -- was introduced in the U.S. only late last year and will just be made available here in Jakarta this month. ZIP drives come only as external peripherals; one version connects to your SCSI card and the other connects to your parallel port. I find the latter very handy because you can easily attach it to your notebook or subnotebook.
The drive is small enough to be placed anywhere on your desk, vertically or horizontally. It comes in a dark blue color. A second port on the back of the parallel-port drive lets you connect your printer cable. But the drive should be powered up before you print anything with this setup. You need a 5 Volt power adapter to use the drives. In my test, the printer worked flawlessly using the parallel-port ZIP drive.
The SCSI version will work with any Adaptec-based SCSI adaptor. If you don't have one, you can buy and install the ZIP Zoom SCSI adaptor yourself. Zoom only has a 25 pin external connector port, and will cost about Rp 130,000. If you already have a SCSI 2 board, with a 50 pin connector, you can buy from the dealer a 50 pin to 25 pin adapter. At the back of the SCSI drive there's also a connector for daisy-chaining other SCSI peripherals, such as a scanner and an external Magneto-optical drive. The SCSI version can also be used with a Mac, and that's the reason the connector still uses a 25 pin plug.
The ZIP diskette is just slightly larger than your ordinary 3.5" floppy diskette, and a little bit thicker, too. It feels sturdier than SyQuest cartridges, and, unlike SyQuest cartridges, ZIP diskettes work without making a sound. The only way you can tell the drive is working, is by the flickering light on the front panel.
Iomega makes two types of ZIP diskettes, a 100 MB and a 25 MB. The high capacity is achieved thanks to the use of hard disk recording techniques, including hard disk read and write head and electronics. I was told that, because of a very insignificant difference in price, PT Bhineka will only market the 100 MB diskettes here in Indonesia. The expected end-user price is Rp 60,000 a piece. That definitely makes a ZIP diskette much cheaper than floppy diskettes on per MB basis.
Finally, each ZIP floppy diskette contains ZIP software tools to manage your files, to search and catalog your collection of ZIP diskettes, etc. You can erase these programs to gain more space.
Work smoothly
In my heavily loaded test PC, which already has an AdvanSys SCSI board, Zoom works perfectly. In fact, I didn't have to reinstall the software driver. The same driver checks whether you have a parallel or SCSI ZIP drive.
The parallel-port version is rated for a maximum throughput of 20 MB per minute, while the SCSI version is rated for 50 MB per minute.
My only complaint about the design of the drive is that it has no ON/OFF switch. To turn it off, you have to unplug the power adaptor, and that could be a nuisance when you're in a hurry to leave.
Aside from that small imperfection, ZIP drive and diskette are highly recommended, particularly if PT Bhineka could make the prices even more attractive. At the moment, the local price of the drives -- both the parallel and SCSI versions -- is expected to be Rp 550,000. The package includes a universal power adaptor and the necessary cables.
ZIP is intended to meet three typical requirements: Expandable storage capacity, data exchange and backup medium. With 100 MB capacity and fairly fast access time, it does an excellent job in these three types of uses.
What other use can it serve? Here's another that we may not think very much of: As we all know, a lot of users are still attached to their faithful XTs, and they feel too reluctant to part from these obsolete machines even when the hard disk has long retired. Now, if you could get a hard disk for an XT machine -- complete with one-year warranty -- you'd be extremely lucky. Why not attach a parallel-connected external SyQuest or ZIP drive to add some more, useful life to these obsolete XTs? The software drivers for ZIP drive take up less than 55 KB space.
Finally, here's a tip for you if you decide to attach parallel ZIP drive to your XT. You need to copy the files ASPIPPA3.SYS, GUEST.EXE and GUEST.INI from ZIP installation diskette onto your bootable diskette. Then add the line GUEST.EXE in your AUTOEXEC.BAT, and you're all set.