Posters Name: Kagato
Posters Email: kagato@mwgl.org
Subject: Iomega Pushes Zip Drives To 750MB
News:
While this new storage increase may seem a tad to late for many of todays CD-R users, it may still be prove to be useful for those wanting an alternate method of backup besides CD-R/DVD-R/Tape, etc. Apparently, the engineers over at Iomega have increased the density on the Zip brand of disks by 3 fold, giving users 750MB of storage goodness. Word:
Drive triples the storage and hits twice the speed of old Zip drives, but will CD-RW lovers care? Using a USB 2.0 interface, this external drive offers data rates comparable to a still-theoretical 50X/50X/50X CD-RW drive, according to the company. That means it could write to archive, rewrite, and read at 50X speeds (about 7.5 MB per second). Iomega's USB 2.0 drive sells for $179; 750MB disks sell for about $12.50 each if you buy them in an eight-pack.Considering CD-Rs can be had for $0.50/each or even cheaper these days, it may prove to be a hard sell for those already entrenched in CD-R usage. And with the further progression of DVD-R and DVD+R, Iomega may be left with a small, niche market.
In order to squeeze more data onto a disk the same size as Iomega's existing 100MB and 250MB products, engineers worked to improve dramatically the track density of its flexible media, says David Greenhalgh, worldwide product manager, future products.
In addition, the company improved the drive's internal transfer processes, including its chip set, software algorithms, and channel efficiencies. To utilize USB 2.0's faster throughput, the drive also spins the flexible media inside the cartridge considerably faster than the older units did, resulting in the maximum throughput of up to 7.5 MB per second, he says.