Zip Drives

[Mog]

Hi - Mrs Mog here
We are currently using floppy discs to back up our computers, rather an out of date way I know.... I don't know much about zip drives but do know they hold much more data and are very fast. Can you re-write to them i.e. back up a few files at a time, or do you have to use them once only for a major back up. Any general advice would be appreciated (about zip drives obviously...).

Mrs Mog [img]images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] [img]images/graemlins/bowdown.gif[/img] [img]images/graemlins/s4anogaro.gif[/img]

[s2driver]

Hello Mrs Mog [img]images/graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

I have used Zip drives for many years in 100Mb and 250Mb capacities. They are a magnetic media like floppy disks so can be read and written to many times. They were fine for transferring data but after suffering the infamous 'klick of death' too often I gave up on relying on zip disks as a backup medium. This happened to me on 3 occasions and has also happened to my boss on several occasions (that is on 2 parallel port drives an internal IDE and internal SCSI ones).

In order to get a high capacity on what is essentially a floppy disk the heads run very close to the disk surface. When you insert a disk into the drive the heads are fed in from the edge of the zip disk. Occasionally (possibly due to mechanism wear) the head can slam into the edge of the disk braking the magnetic surface into several pieces and hence losing data. When this happens the drive prduces a loud clicking sound as it repeateadly tries to find the disk platter that it has just destroyed. This has been dubbed 'the click of death' by the computing press and seems to affect quite a few ZIP drive users globally.

I transfer large amounts of CAD data between home and work and now use a few of those 128Mb USB flash drives (little keyring fob). Transferring larger files I use CDRW and to back up data I used to use high quality CD-R. I am about to set up an IDE RAID to mirror the data on my hard disk for data security. £20 controller card and £80 for 120Gb drive. Tape backup is also a good option too if you have lots of data to store and we used to make 2 copies of a tape backup and store them in different locations to ensure that we minimised the chances of data loss. Unfortunately all data storage media has a limited life and its life is highly dependant on storage conditions. I would always recomend regular backups and periodically using fresh media to ensure longevity of your data. CD-R drives are now available for less than £25 and you will get several high quality disks for £1! Try www.ebuyer.com for prices and backup options.

Lee

[Mog]

S2 Driver - thanks for your help, you've given us something to mull over. I do take 2 back ups as I create files and keep 1 here and 1 at Mother-in-Laws (which means I have to see her to pick them up if needed ...). Generally the files I back up per day are little and often e.g. invoices or estimates and some excel files but I could keep them on floppy and do major backups to an alternative source.

Thanks again (why are we working today when we could be out driving???)

Mrs Mog X [img]images/graemlins/thumbs.gif[/img] [img]images/graemlins/s4anogaro.gif[/img]

[s2driver]

I used to really rate Zip drives highly and started using them before CDRs were common place. The failures I had, despite infrequent, left me with little confidence. I have to also say that I haven't used one for over 3 years! Iomega may have addressed the issues that plagued early machines. Media prices for the Zip don't compete with CD-RW media though these days.

No driving today for me [img]images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] [img]images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Am working at home on a huge amount of documentation for work. Wish I brought home the laptop so I could have been out in the sunny garden!

Never mind eh!

Lee [img]images/graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

[Mog]

Thanks for all the help. I have been working more than driving today (and also to the Dentist!), my only real drive was to take the kids to school. If I take the RS4 I have to get there early to ensure that I don't have to park on a grass verge or high kerb (or where mothers/fathers who can't control their vehicles won't hit mine). The SatNav TV keeps the kids quiet though!! Good idea to get a laptop, I could do my work in the garden then also.

Cheers K (Mrs Mog) X [img]images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] [img]images/graemlins/s4anogaro.gif[/img]