Removable Storage Options What Removable Storage option is right for you? For most computer users, at some point of another, it becomes necessary to have removable storage in excess of the floppy, maybe to back up your data on a regular basis, to move big files from your home PC to the office, or just to free up space on your hard drive. To do this, you need a medium to store the data on and remove it for portability. Unless you are using an iMac, you already have one removable storage option available to you. Yes, the good, old floppy disk is still available to most computer users. Of course, the "old" part is a big problem, because it is actually difficult these days to find things that will fit on the (by today's standards) puny 1.44 MB of a standard floppy. So let's take a look at the main options available out there for removable storage and their advantages and disadvantages. Super Floppies First, we have the "Super Floppies." In terms of fairly common use, this really means two media: the Zip (in 100 MB and 250 MB size) and the LS120 Superdisk (120 MB). These are both fairly similar devices in that they both use a mixture of technologies to allow for the storage of eighty times (or more) the data of a standard floppy in basically the same size device. If your BIOS supports it, both can be set up as boot devices. The LS120 has two advantages over the standard 100 MB Zip. One, it holds 120 MB of data, and two, it will read and write standard floppy disks. However, it is not as widespread as the Zip, so it is not as good a choice if you plan to use your removable storage device to share files. In Win9x, the addition of "Superdisk Accelerator" software helps the transfer speed by staging files to your harddrive. The LS120 is available as an internal IDE drive, an external parallel drive, or an external USB drive. On the other hand, the Iomega Zip seems to be everywhere (at least in the 100 MB variation), making it a better choice for sharing files with your friends and neighbors. In addition, there is the added choice of the 250MB Zip (which will use 100 MB disks as well). The Zip is available as an internal IDE or SCSI drive, an external SCSI or parallel drive (with the Zip Plus actually doing both), or an external USB drive. I recommend avoiding the parallel version (they're slow), and while the SCSI Zips are the fastest, the IDE and USB are solid performers. The Zip comes with its own software, called Iomega Tools. I recommend you do NOT install the software that comes with the drive. If you want the tools, download the newest version from www.iomega.com, but they aren't necessary in Win98. You can download just the drivers as well, and that is worth doing because it saves you a lot of disk space and resources. The 100 MB Zips and 120 MB LS120 disks cost about the same, so that isn't a major issue. If all you need from your removable storage is a way to backup, store or share relatively small amounts of data, these devices may be the choice for you. Since they work just like floppy drives in Explorer, no training is necessary. If sharing files is a key part of what you need to do, the Zip is probably the better choice for you. If not, the LS120 has the advantage. Should you choose a Zip, go to PokPok's Goody Corner and download Steve Gibson's TIP. This program should be essential to anyone using Iomega products. Removable Storage Options JAZ Drives There are a few removable harddrive type drives, with the most successful one being the Iomega Jaz. Originally in a 1GigaByte size, it is now available in 2GigaByte. It is normally found as an internal or external SCSI drive. It is fast and effectively operates like a harddrive. These devices are found extensively in graphics houses and design houses, where the ability to keep all of a project on one disk which can be moved around to different users for work and modification is an important advantage. For most users, a second harddrive is probably the more cost effective option unless you work in one of the fields where the Jaz is a default media. Once again this is an Iomega device and the same advice that held true for the Zip is true here. Download the tools or drivers if you want them and make sure you get TIP. There are a few other drives of this type, from Syquest and Orb. I personally have no experience with them. PC Card drives, Iomega Click Want a small harddrive for using with your notebook? IBM has a new hard drive that is the size of a quarter, and the Iomega Click is about the size of a nickel. There are also PC card harddrives available that are up to 1 gigabyte in size. Talk about an easy way to do a backup of your laptop! With all the devices we have discussed so far, they basically use hard drive technology. That means that they develop bad sectors and get fragmented just like a harddrive! Make use of your maintenance tools on these devices to maximize the life of the media. Optical Storage There are Optical storage disks available in 128 MB and other sizes. Before the widespread adoption of CDR technology, these devices were sold to those who needed archival storage. The media is still available, although it is fairly expensive. But with the advent of the CDR and CDRW, they are really obsolescent. The common optical storage options today are the CDR (Compact Disk Recordable) and CDRW (Compact Disk ReWritable). What that basically means is that with a CDR, you can "burn" data to a CD and it is there permanently. With a CDRW, you can reuse the disks. To learn more about the technology and how to do it, take a look at our two "burning" tutorials. Burners are available in IDE, SCSI (internal and external), USB and parallel port versions. The faster the transfer rate, the better, so I prefer SCSI, but many people have reported great results with IDE burners. What are the advantages of burners? Well, since almost every computer today has a CD player, you can share anything you put on a CD very easily. In addition, with CDRs, the media is extraordinarily cheap (to the tune of about $1 for 650 MB of storage). And it is archival. CDs are unaffected by magnetic or electrical fields. As long as they are not scratched, broken or melted, they are readable, today or 100 years from now. CDRWs provide the additional benefit of reusable media (although CDRW disks are much more expensive), and they can use CDR disks as well. Depending on how much you want to spend on your drive, a burner is probably the best choice for removable storage today. The disadvantages? Using a burner is not as easy as the other devices we discussed which are basically used like a floppy or harddrive. Burning CDs is its own process, requiring its own software. It is not as difficult as it sounds, though, as you can find out for yourself in our CD burning tutorial. I hope this tutorial has helped you to get an idea of the advantages and disadvantages of the major removable storage options available today. I happen to own an LS120, three Zips, a Jaz and a Plextor CDR drive, and each is superb in its own way. For general use as a backup device, and for sharing files, the CDR or CDRW are probably the best choice today for most users, although if you share a lot of files, the Zip may be worthwhile. http://www.PCNineOneOne.com