Zen wrote:
At 16:00 -0400 5/26/98, Andy Skuse wrote:
(A floppy disk used for backup purposes is about 99% likely to have
acquired a serious case of bad sectors within a week, IME)
No, they're not the most reliable format (I just got a Zip drive and it's
worth every penny!), but they're better than nothing, especially when what
you had on your hard drive suddenly becomes *nothing*.
Ara? a ZIP drive? Sure, they're convenient, but they are NOT good back-up
devices.
Well, any magnetic contact media device is susceptible to failure. That's a
given. But CD-R/W and Optical drives are still on the expensive side for
some people, so if you're on a budget then you have to look at the
alternatives.
I've used a SCSI Zip drive with my Mac for 4 months now and it's worked
perfectly. No lost files, no weird errors. That's not to say that problems
won't occur in the future, but the bottom line is that it is an inexpensive
and *better* alternative to floppy disks or nothing at all ;)
And if anyone out there is thinking about buying a backup device, basically
there are two categories: Big and small. If you only want to backup your
documents, image files, spreadsheets etc., then a Zip drive or LS-120 is
the way to go. If you want to back up your whole hard drive, then a Tape
Backup or a Jaz or a SparQ drive should do the trick. CD Burners are an
option too, but if you're going to get one, go SCSI or Internal IDE: the
External parallel port models are much slower and not as reliable IMO.
Hmmm. As to the CDR or CDRW drive, Zen agrees completely. The media is
DIRT cheap now, and for permanent backup, cannot be beat. Best drives
running for this are the HP CDR/W drives... reliable and fast. Ricoh's
are at the bottom of the list.
Up here (Canada) HP 7200 CD-R/W drives are in the $500 range. That's kinda
pricey for the average computer user who just needs something to back up
their data files rather than counting on their HD. A SCSI Zip drive costs
around $200 here and the 100MB disks are under $20. That's not the best
MB/$ value, but I don't *need* the capacity of a CD-R/W or a Jaz drive. I'm
just backing up documents and images which on average are around 300K to
1MB in size. I think your recommendations might be for more serious users
who are working with mission critical apps and files, and where time (to
restore data) is of the essence. But then again, if you have the coin... ;)
As for Zips or Jazz drives....
Please forgive Zen, Skuse-san... but Zen must respectfully disagree.
As a backup medium, NEITHER ZIP nor Jazz drives are particularly safe.
Both are contact media - highly susceptible to head crashes. And the
ZIP drive has what Zen considers to be a fatal design flaw... to wit,
the 'click of death' that sometimes accompanies the insertion of zip
media into the drive. Both media AND drive are dead if this happens.
Non recoverable.
That's new to me. The LS-120 drives have given us problems, but we've sold
lots of Zip and Jaz drives and no complaints so far <knocks on wood>. But
your point is sound. Those devices use magnetic contact media and *can*
crash or fail, just like a HD or floppy disk. But I believe they are *more*
reliable than floppy disks and *just* a HD. Still, if you want something
that is 99% reliable, and you have the coin, then CD-R/W or MO is the way
to go.
If you want *reliable* backup, Zen suggests an MO drive. They are a
little pricier - but the cost is WELL worth it. Zen uses an Olympus
model SYS-230 - a 3.5 inch MO dirve, rewriteable, and FAST compared to
Zips. Also, CHEAP. The drive is moderately priced at around 300 bux,
and is availale in SCSI or SCSI/Parallel configurations. The media, if
you buy from Olympus, is five discs for 50 bux, making it quite cost
competitive with Zips. Particularly since the MO are 230 Mb, and the
Zips are 100.
Hmmmm! You make a good case Zen :)
Best of all, it's non contact, and non magnetic. VERY safe and reliable
storage. (And the disks fit in carriers for standard 3.5 inch floppies,
too!)
Hm, this bears looking into. Thanks for the tip! :)
BUT, this doesn't let people off the hook! Until you can get something more
reliable, back up your fics to floppies! Data loss is preventable!
Andy Skuse
---
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