Which should I get: ext. zip drive or cd-rw?

Factual Questions
1

I am in need of an external data storage device / medium.

I am not sure which I should get though:

[li]100mb Iomega external usb zip drive[/li][li]external usb cd-rw[/li]
I suppose it would depend what type of data I would be storing??

I mostly would store downloaded program files (.exe files), archiving e-mails, Word documents, wav’s and image files. I am NOT into downloading music, so burning my own music cd’s would not be something I have a desire for.

Seems to me the Zip drive is the way to go, as it is a bit more affordable for the hardware.

I have no experience using a zip drive or cd-rw, so which would any of you “geek” types here recommend for the type of data I want to store?

note: I have considered that one “upside” to cd-rw is no fragmentation hassles and less likelihood of damage to the disc. As far as I can tell, Zip disks are somewhat like floppies, and regular floppies are easily damaged, by dust, etc.

decisions decisions…

2

I suggest you use the earch function. :smiley:

(OK, maybe you did, but I thought I’d draw it to your attention anyway.)

3

Thanks…and Isn’t there anything that hasn’t been answered already on this darn board, sheesh! :rolleyes:

4

Well, I don’t think anyone’s ever answered the question about the origin of "all your base are belong to AARRRG[sub]hhhhh…[/sub]

5

There’s new info since that thread. Iomega is now on the brink of bankruptcy, and could go out of business. CDs will be around forever, but Zip disks might not.
There was a lot of stuff not covered in that thread. The economics was covered (CDR media is dirt cheap, zip media is expensive and low capacity). But some major points were not covered. Every computer shipped today can read CDRs but few machines have zips. Zips are notoriously unreliable, the “click of death” problem will not only kill your zip drive, it will kill any zip disk you put in the broken drive. CDRs and CDRWs are optical storage and much more reliable. Many backup programs support CDRW, it’s a good medium for relatively large backups but zips would be too expensive for that task. When’s the last time you did a total backup?

Get the CDRW. Make sure to get one of the newer models with Burn-Proof.

6

I would go for the CD-RW as well.

Nearly everyone has a CD drive, so most people will be able to access the information you send them.

CDs also hold a lot more than Zips (from 650 to 800 megs, depending on whether or not you overburn the CD)

Zip disks do have the advantage of quick access when you need to write something to them: You don’t need to start up a CD-burning program. I used to have a 100 meg Zip drive and I liked it a lot. never had any problems with it.

–Nut
Nice computers don’t go down.

7

I would go the CD burner route, although I have both a Zip drive and a CD-RW drive at home.

Although there are benefits to a zip drive, namely you can use it like a floppy. Programs like DirectCD that allow you to use a CD-RW as a floppy tend to be more problems than what they are worth. Most noticeably, it takes almost an hour to format a CD-RW disc with DirectCD.

I use my Zip disks (I only own two) for personal docs that I don’t want to store on my computer (stuff I wouldn’t want a hacker to get). I use my CD-RW drive a lot more… creating music CDs, MP3 compilations, VCDs, and I even backup my system using CD-R’s.

Of course, now I can’t wait to get the DVD-RW that HP plans to sell in October. :slight_smile:

8

I have both on my pc. The Zip is great for if I have something large that I need to move quickly from one pc to another. I have never had any problems with my Iomega ZIP drive (Notwithstanding my kids constantly putting 3.5 inch discs into it.) The CD-RW is better for long term storage. When I get 650MB of stuff, I start thinking about moving it to a CD-R or CD-RW disc.

If I had to recommend one over the other, I’d go with the others who have posted and go with the CD-RW. You may want to wait for a little bit, though. Rewriteable DVD drives are starting to come down in price and will give you much MUCH more storage than CD-RW’s.

9

I don’t have much else to add, except to note that CDR’s are damn cheap–in many cases it actually makes sense to use cdr’s over cdrw’s. If you only back up once or twice a year, then you might as well use a cdr and then throw it away when you’re done–you’ll only be out 30 cents, as opposed to 10 bucks for a cdrw.

10

a acouple things to consider here, one, cost. CR-R drives have come WAY down in price, and you can get an 8 speed, which is adequate for normal burning, for under $100. That is comprable, if not less, than a zip drive. Then you ahve the media. I think a 100mb zip disc is going for around $7.50 - 10. But, you can get a 650mb CD-R for around .30, when purchased in bulk (100 for right around $30 or so). so the winner, clearly CD-R

Another thing to think about, reliability. If you make a zip disc, the data tends to be a bit sensative, and things like water, or even a drop from 7 or 8 feet can hurt it. With a CD this is not the case. The data, once burned onto a CD is supposed to last for 100 or more years (not like we’ll still be using that media, but the reasurrence in nice). With CDs, you ahve to worry about scratches, but as long as you keep the CDs in jewel cases or a cd-wallet or binder, you should be fine in that area.

One last thing, compatibility. I can’t think of one person, or should i say on cmoputer, that doesn’t have a CD-ROM drive. Not only that, but with a CD-R you get the ability to burn music CDs, and make your own compilation CDs, and that can be a really nice thing to have. With a Zip, it either requires the other person having a Zip drive, or, as I have seen more and more recently, you could have a USB Zip drive, and just plug it in and go.

I would say that if you keep all these things in mind, a CD-R would, and should, be a definite bet. The versatility has the Zip backed up into a corner, and the price of the media alone should get you to jump on the band wagon.

11

I started the last thread of this topic…

… and since then, I’ve decided to go the CD-RW option.
As a couple of teen computer geeks told me at Best Buy, why invest in 90s technology when you can reap the benefits of the current?

Fact is, I was having all kinds of problems with my 100-meg Zip drive–it would constantly freeze up–until I dumped McAfee’s Anti-Virus stuff, stopped using Norton System Works 2001, and switched over to Windows 2000 Professional, which is an amazing, amazing, amazing OS. (Did I say amazing?)

Since then, my Zip has been perfect. Problem is, each disk holds only 100 megs and that’s smaller than you think, especially for folks like me who have lots of data files. BestBuy is now selling a 250-meg Zip Drive “starter kit” complete with three zip disks for a bargain $160, and I almost bought it until a kid clued me in. CD technology is the wave of the future, not Zip.

Chas E., you continue to be a source of great information. I had no idea ioMega was in such dire financial trouble. While Fuji might continue to sell their disks, why invest in obsolescence?

12

I would only recommend zip disk for poeple who have them at work and have need to transfer files via zip.

Other then that cd-rw is the way to go. Funny how there is so much talk about zip being fragle compaired to cd’s because iomega is starting a ad campain to toute the durability of zip over cd-rw (not that I agree w/ them)

Also they are expected to lower the price of the zip drive and make their $ on the disks (very expensive for what you get IMHO).

Hyjack
Zip had a real shot at replacing the floppy and computer manufactures were offering them pre installed ( soem still are but not as agressivly as before) but they missed the boat by charging $10 a piece for the disks. Everyone I know who got a zip drive preinstalled can’t afford to use it. Also the click of death didn’t help anything (distroyed the disk when the drive broke).

What can I say they got greedy and didn’t look at the long term.

13

Why not get both? I have both. An internal zip is cheap. I assume you are using a PC right?

zips are faster & easier, cd’s an hold more data & archives & last 100 years.

14

It has been my experience that the continued use of a zip disk will cause the disk to degrade over time. I had an internal zip drive for a few years but recently replaced it with a CD-RW. I had moved a bunch of abandonware off my HD onto a zip disk but that disk started having read errors.

The zip drive is easier to use but the media is expensive. CD burners are a better value, but can have problems. While migrating my abandonware from the zip disk to a CD, my system froze before I was able to make the CD readable. I lost a bunch of those old games because I had cut & past instead of just copying. I have yet to burn a CD that is actually useful but that may have been because of my system problems.

15

[Ben Stein] Wowww [/Ben Stein]

Well, I guess I will take everyone’s advice and go with the cd burner. Thanks for all the info everyone.

16

Doh! You probably should have copied from zip to your hard drive and from there to your cd burner. :frowning:

17

slortar, you can copy from the zip to your cd.

18

You can also clean out your ear with a knife - it doesn’t mean you should. With the reading of the zip drive (nowhere near HD speeds) - extra drivers to read the zip you increase the chance of buffer underun or other errors.

(but hey you get another coaster)

19

  1. 100mb Iomega external usb zip drive
    approximate cost for 40 GB is $3280

  2. external usb cd-rw
    approximate cost for 40 GB is $120

  3. hard drive with external USB enclosure
    approximate cost for 40 GB is $160 but a lot faster and less cumbersome than option 2

20

Thanks. I’m not saying that Iomega will go out of business, they probably won’t, and even if they did, there are enough existing drives that surely someone would buy the rights to continue to produce the media. But still, the writing is on the wall.