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From: kientzle@netcom.com
Subject: Re: Zip drivers available?
Message-ID: <kientzleDuCEwI.614@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <4ri9ko$n87@boris.eden.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 19:45:54 GMT
Lines: 40
Sender: kientzle@netcom12.netcom.com
I bought a Zip SCSI drive, plugged it in and it worked. I've been
using it to exchange large files with PC and Mac owners (since
everybody can read/write PC-format Zip disks, it seems). One zip
is a lot more convenient than 20-30 floppies!
The only caveat is that the Zip does have some oddity in it's SCSI
implementation that prompts the kernel to issue an (apparently
harmless) error message every time you mount a new disk (in addition
to the warnings about media changes).
However, it's not really all that cheap as a backup medium. For
example, if you have a 1gig drive to back up, you'll need about 6-10
ZIP disks. Multiply by three backup sets (plus extra disks for
incremental backups), you're rapidly approaching $300+ for media, plus
$200 for the drive. I've seen 2gig SCSI tape drives for $350, with
the tapes running only $30 apiece.
I've been using my Zip for backup, but as soon as I can afford to, I'm
planning to buy a tape drive and use the Zip for incremental
backups and exchanging files.
- Tim Kientzle
In article <4ri9ko$n87@boris.eden.com>, dcon@eden.com <dcon@eden.com> wrote:
>
>
>Has anyone ever built a driver for Iomega Zip drives? Or... Can the
>drive be used as a regular scsi drive? (or as a parallel port device,
>whatever the case may be) Any info would be great.
>
>I'm seeking a backup method without investing in a tape drive. I
>recently transferred some large files to a mounted msdos drive, and
>immediately after, my entire filesystem looked as if it had passed
>through the meat grinder. fsck told me tales of all sorts of weird
>huge files belonging to nonexistent groups/users. Everything other
>than / was toast. Sound familiar?
>
>-Doug Conley
>