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Is ZIP Really Dead?

Maybe I missed it, but hasn't anybody here heard of the iPOD? I've been using a 10 gig iPod for over a year to transfer huge files back and forth from my office every day. Firewire transfer rates have got to be at least as fast or faster than a zip drive. Sure the iPod is more expensive, but it is also a music player (obviously...) and is a whole lot cooler and smaller than a clunky zip drive. When I need to drop off files to the printer I burn CD's. I back up important data to DVD's or CD's. I don't know what kind of CDR's people are using, but I've burned hundreds without a single one failing on me. Call me lucky I guess.

Zip's had their day. Nobody should be using those unless you're using a PC, and a cheap one at that. I used Zip's for years, up until about 2000. I've had about 3 of them break on me, including the "Iomega Click of Death" for those that know about it. They suck big time.

I don't want to insult anybody's buying intelligence or budget, but zip's are a waste of time and money. Get an external HD (or iPod) and a CD burner and you're set. Get with the times!
 
I have a Zip 250 drive. I don't use it all that often, I think something is not right with it because if you nudge it or plug it in it acts like it's trying to read something even without a disk in it. But it works when I need it, even though it's slow. I really only use it to backup files when i'm reinstalling OS X.

IN short, it's like the superdrive. It's not all that useful for the consumer but it's nice to have.
 
Originally posted by andrewh
Maybe I missed it, but hasn't anybody here heard of the iPOD? I've been using a 10 gig iPod for over a year to transfer huge files back and forth from my office every day. Firewire transfer rates have got to be at least as fast or faster than a zip drive. Sure the iPod is more expensive, but it is also a music player (obviously...) and is a whole lot cooler and smaller than a clunky zip drive. When I need to drop off files to the printer I burn CD's. I back up important data to DVD's or CD's. I don't know what kind of CDR's people are using, but I've burned hundreds without a single one failing on me. Call me lucky I guess.

Zip's had their day. Nobody should be using those unless you're using a PC, and a cheap one at that. I used Zip's for years, up until about 2000. I've had about 3 of them break on me, including the "Iomega Click of Death" for those that know about it. They suck big time.

I don't want to insult anybody's buying intelligence or budget, but zip's are a waste of time and money. Get an external HD (or iPod) and a CD burner and you're set. Get with the times!
Click to expand...

Must be nice. I remember when I could do that with my 5 GB ipod. Those were the days... :rolleyes: :cool: :D
 
CDRW's unreliable? - Hmm...never had one fail one me yet. And given that ZIP's use similar technology as 3.5 floppies I'd never trust a zip.

As far as burning coasters.....Its the quality of the drive and the ability of the user to read the requirements of the burner and make sure that the PCee they are using match / meet them. I use a Plextor on SCSI for backup every day and NEVER have I burned a coaster. Ive had HP branded drives (toshibias iI think) and I have made a ton of coasters...That burner now sits..
 
Rezet,

I think to answer your original question...

Zips are useful but as a major way of backing up and storage, they aren't as useful as some other choices.

I have never experienced a Buffer overurn or lost a cd on my Mac. I have also never had a CDR NOT RW but R go bad on me or lose data.

My back solution is mulitfaceted which goes to show that any mechanism for back up is viable..

At home I use a 60GB external FW HD to store stuff that is connected to my iMac and served over my entire network.

I back up important stuff to CDs (I can fit 700mb of stuff on them I dont know where you get 550mbs when formatted).

CDs use CDFS which is cross compatible btwn my Macs and my PC at work.

For temporary storage of a file I am going to modify in 20 minutes (one of your other rants) I use my 256MB FlashHopper USB FlashDrive. It 's smaller than a Pen and I copied 7mb in abt 9 seconds to it over a USB 1.0 port. So at 11Mbps vs 480Mbps for the USB 2.0 port you will need for ur Zip 750. I'd like to know what your rate would be on a USB 1.0 instead of the 2.0 since most Macs and PCs you have to carry your drive to wont have USB 2.0.

And on top of it, you must admit carrying my FlashHopper with no external power cords or interface cords, vs. the Zip 750 with it's larger foot print and cables has got to be more convient.

I'd also like to add just one more comment to this post, although I love your passion and enthusiasm (you and I have had a go around on thread before) you should be just a touch less defensive when you ask a question (Is Zip Dead?) and people give you there opinions.

I hope that you are happy with your Zip and it lasts you for years...

As someone else pointed out..as Mac users we take pride in not being like everyone else so Zip long and Prosper!

macboyx
 
has anyone ever burned a session cd? you can keep adding to it untill it's full. that's what i did for school when i had to write papers and i didn;'t have a printer i could use.
 
I use my ipod instead of using a zip-disk, and i also got a cd-rw burner.
 
Originally posted by Rezet
AAH. In 1998, P2 333MHZ (350 Mhz) was the top line of the PCs.
Which was over priced to hell. I don't remember seeing any DVD-ROMs back then. Even if they were there, I'm sure their cost wouldn't be very appealing for the consumers.
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I bought a middle of the road Gateway in late '98 or early '99 and it came w/a DVD-ROM. In fact, that DVD-ROM is still being used in my current PC (although the rest of the Gateway was trashed about 2.5 years ago).


Lethal
 
I think the main problems with ZIP 750 with regards to it's commercial use is client compatibility. I personally don't know of any company that I deal with that use them, so in this respect it's not even a valid suggestion!

Personally I find CD-R and DVD-R are the better alternative for both myself and my clients.

CD-R's are a great way of getting work over to a client and not have to worry about not having an expensive ZIP returned, no matter how many times you ask a client to return a ZIP they never do... :rolleyes: but then again, it's an added and unnecessary expensive so why should they when I can send them a CD and be done with it? When you're having to courier media accross London, the less amount of times you have to do that the better!

If I visit a client at their studio's, I'm fortunate to have a SuperDrive enabled PowerBook... so why would I want to lug around a ZIP drive (as well as the necessary ZIP disks because my clients don't use them and won't have them in their studio's) around London??

In the cases where a CD-R is not large enough, that's when DVD-R comes in handy, even though they're more expensive than CD-R's, if you buy in bulk they work out significantly cheaper than having to replace the non-returned ZIP 's.

CD-R and DVD-R also has the added advantage that it's also a global commercial standard for the deployment of interactive media, and as such you can dev. interactive products and test them on every platform for compatibility exactly as they are going to be mastered, ZIP's are useless for this role.

Also we should consider that almost every PC shipped comes with a CD drive and most now have some kind of DVD drive, so you instantly have access to an enormous installed user base where your media can be accessed pretty much by anyone of these.

This is where ZIP suffers, it may be fine within your circle of friends who each own one and the company you work for, but what about the other thousands of potential clients, users, friends etc. that don't have access to one?

I don't think ZIP's are dead as such, but then again I suppose there're many out there that believe that the floppy isn't dead either... :p

But personally I and my clients have no use for them, when we have access to a more flexible, cheaper and universally accessble media format.

G

P.S. You don't work for Iomega do you??
:p :p :p
 
Originally posted by Powerbook G5
I have yet to burn a CD on a Mac, but I'll tell you one thing, burning a CD on a Windows computer is one of the most unreliable things you can do. I cannot tell you how many CDs I've wasted trying to burn a CD on both Windows ME (horrible, horrible OS) and Windows XP...it's a pure headache. I only have a Zip 100 (external USB) but it is fast, easy, and works perfectly every time.
Click to expand...

LOL, you must SUCK at burning CDs or have a really old and ugly burner. I have burned loads and loads of CDs at 32x speed in winXP, with no faults at all! It only takes a couple of minutes.

ZIP is DEAD, and has been dead for years.
 
Originally posted by Rezet
As for windows burning, PLEASE! Not everyone has XP to begin with, nor does everyone has OSX. Second, WIndows burning is very crappy and only burns one way. There practically no custom burning allowed. IF I thought Windows xp built-in cd burning feature is good, i wouldnt get Roxio EZ cd creator.
(It's good if your computer comes with one of those, but some, like mine didn't)...
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Have you even tried custom burning on Windows? Its lightyears ahead of anything that OS X can offer or any 3rd party program can offer to OS X. Try some of these programs for Windows. Blindwrite, CDRWIN, Nero, Fireburner. Blindwrite allows you to actually record the physical layout of the disk you are copying and allows a perfect copy. They are far ahead of Toast or anything on OS X. I don't understand "burns one way". They burn it with a laser, what does apple burn a cd with, a flashlight? :rolleyes:
Easy CD Creator is one of the crappiest burning programs for Windows. It is foolproof, but it only allows a limited set of options. Try any of those other programs I mentioned, they are much much better.
 
1 GIG SmartDisk @ $116 Shipped

Originally posted by Peyote
I think zip drives still have some life left in them. I love using them for everyday file moving etc. Zip drives won't become obselete until the day when a burning a CDRW is even close to copying files to a zip, or until a new media is developed. USB "thumbdrives" aren't viable as they are too limited by their capacity. Next is firewire/USB2 drives. There are some small ones out there, but they're expensive. I think the next logical step is a VERY small portable HD. The size of a credit card and no more than 1/4" thick would be nice. The data is protected, the HD is portable and uses 1 cord, and can hold a lot. The capacity should be around 1 gig to keep the price and size down. Sell it for $75 and I would snap that up in a heartbeat. Until I can buy something like that, I'll stick with the quick transfer of files on my zip.
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You can get 1 GIG SmartDisk media (great for using with cameras too) for $116 Shipped (check out dealmac). This is the same price structure for other types of RAM-based media. Throw it in your pocket with a USB or Firewire adapter and you have the pocket drive you are talking about. As for price -- it is getting closer to the sub-$100 range than most people think and it is CERTAINLY cheaper than a Zip Drive set-up.
 
I have an internal Zip 100 and an external SCSI for use with my old Mac... I love them! they also play well with music equipment (keyboards, digital recorders, etc.), whereas CD burners do not... It's like the evolution of the floppy... I've had like 6 Zip discs for years, and, I must agree, the media is expensive, but how many Zip discs do you really need? I use it as a floppy - temporary solution, or to get large amounts of data from one system to another, without wasting a CD... Also BOOTABLE from older Macs! Totally awesome... Know what I really liked, though, Superdisk! I guess it didn't do that well, but I still use it all the time on my G3 - it reads and writes normal floppies also!
 
Originally posted by ColdZero
Have you even tried custom burning on Windows? Its lightyears ahead of anything that OS X can offer or any 3rd party program can offer to OS X.
Click to expand...

Isn't this the same as creating a disc image in Toast? Just a question...
 
Re: Re: Re: Is ZIP Really Dead?

Originally posted by Rezet
Most of the things you stated aren't true.
First off, I think most agree that CDRWs aren't reliable. And your pack of CDRs arent re-recordable.
And please, FASTER? WHAT? Show me a CDRW that can copy 7 mbs in 2 seconds and we will talk.
And it's not that much easier dude, I burn cds and stuff and i encounter some sort of an error with it much more often than with any other recording device.
Plus cds are bulky. And I'm always afraid that I will scratch it so it won't work. Besides CDRWs are only 550mbs when formatted.
The big drawback of Zips is that you need a zip drive to the place you go to, but 750 drive is size of 2cds in jewel cases, so it's not a problem to grab it along if a person doesn't have a zip drive.
Click to expand...

My CD Burner burns at 52X, which is 7.6 MB a second. Thats twice the speed as ZIP.

CDs are 695 megs after being formatted for the mac, and 700-702 with a PC format.
 
Originally posted by DeadlyBreakfast
As far as burning coasters.....Its the quality of the drive and the ability of the user to read the requirements of the burner and make sure that the PCee they are using match / meet them.
Click to expand...

I've found that I burn a lot of coasters using cheap ass media... When I started using TDK's, never a bad disc!
 
I'd like to point out that while Mac OS X does indeed have great built-in CD burning, Mac OS 9 had just about the same capabilities. You insert a CD, "prepare" it, copy all the files to the prepared to CD, and then burn the CD; just as you do with Mac OS X. So easy CD burning isn't limited to Mac OS X only (I have no experience with burning CDs in Windows).

I'd also like to chime in that I have made very few CD coasters -- I actually can't recall any that I've done in recent memory. I also am a packrat: I archive all the installers I use and burn them to CDs, so the rare time I need one of those old apps, they're on CD. A few of the CDs I've burned were from way back in 1999, and guess what? They still work. Calling burnable CDs unreliable is a ridiculous argument.

Lastly, I'd like to second the fact that you can do session burning. While that feature is dubious for things like burning a single document, it really comes in handy when you want to burn 700 MB in 3 segments. It's a far cry from the abilities of a zip/floppy disk, but I'd venture to say that CDs are much more reliable: I haven't had a CD-RW fail on me, either.

Zips fail because of a number of factors:

1) The perception is that they're unreliable. Because they use the same style of technology as a regular 3.25 inch floppy disk, which were notoriously unreliable, people are hesitant to use Zip disks.

2) The size of the media. With 1 GB keychain firewire drives, 30 GB iPod-size FireWire drives, and DVD-Rs becoming standard, the capacity of the Zip disk is far becoming eclipsed by other methods of data storage.

3) Price. For the price of a zip drive, I can buy a FireWire drive that has more capacity for less money, as someone pointed out earlier. The advantages in how you write to Zip disks over CDs is nonexistent in the face of these kinds of FireWire drives. Plus, you actually have to buy media, whereas with FireWire drives, you don't.

4) Compatibility. As many other people pointed out, you actually have to carry around a Zip drive if you want to ensure compatibility with other computers, and you have to make sure you have the right cables. With CD-Rs, and to a lesser extent DVD-Rs, you only have to bring the media and you can basically be assured that the person can read the media.

I don't really see any advantage of a Zip drive when compared to a FireWire drive or a SuperDrive (DVD/CD burner). It just doesn't make any sense anymore. My iPod (first generation 5 GB) is more reliable, can store more data, and is smaller than any Zip drive I've seen.
 
Originally posted by Rezet
And also, many many people do not have dvd-roms on their computers still. So unless you bought a computer within 2 years, you are just as screwed as as those with zips.
Click to expand...

I don't want to get in the middle of this argument, but I want to note that my PC is 4 years old, and it shipped with a DVD-Rom, so that no DVD-Rom thing is BS.

Also, burning on PC using DirectCD on Win XP is like moving to another hard drive. You can burn the files in whatever folder configuration you want.

Regardless, I don't see why you are arguing about this. You wanted people's opinions on why the ZIP drives were dying out, and they gave them to you. If you didn't want to know, you shouldn't have started this thread. Arguing about it over and over isn't going to change people's minds.

Alia
 
Just to throw my 2 cents into this mess. It seems that the original poster liked his Zip drive just fine to begin, why ask what everyone else thinks, who cares? If it works for you then go with it. I used Zips for years and loved them. Right now I use my 5 Gig iPod for backing up files, transfering stuff, etc and it's the best. Just this week I was working on a client's iMac and I had to wipe the HD so I plugged in my iPod and backed up her whole User folder and documents in a matter of seconds. I hate burning CDs too. I always end up with a binder full of CDRs that are not labled and I can't tell what they are. It m akes me nuts. And burning is just slow. I'll never go back to disks for backing up anything.
 
compared to selling the family farm to make everyone get a ZIP drive on their computer, i would much rather sell my soul to get an iPod. fortunately, someone gave me one for graduation.

i have to say, the ultimate reason that ZIP is not a standard is probably the fact that they don't ship with most computers. can you imagine a zip drive on my tibook? that would be so hilarious... i'd have to take my hard drive and battery out to fit it in, but i could probably get some custom work done.. yeah.

also, i think they have 40 or 48x CDROMs... that's 700 MB per... hang on, let me get my calculator... 700 MB per 1.5 minutes, which is pretty nigh on 8 MB/s. so yes, CDRs can be faster than ZIP, fo' sho. of course, most of us just have the 24x, or, for us poor laptop users, 8-12x, writers...

i dunno, i am happy petting my iPod and laughing at everyone. if you like to pet your zip disk drive/disks and laugh at everyone, we won't steal your liquor. but don't get mad when we laugh back ;)
 
I don't get why everyone is so rabid about CDR vs Zip drives. It sounds like a bunch of PC users slamming Macs...if the guy likes his Zip drive, then more power to him. I have a zip drive I bought for my PowerBook back in 99 and it works great for backing up files quickly. I actually know lots of friends who have them and all the computers at my college have them, along with most of them at my high school. For this reason, I found that having my Zip drive was invaluable for transfering stuff from home to school and back. I know there are other types of drives and a lot are cool. Who can dispute the coolness of holding nearly a gig on your keychain that you can plug into your computer or backing up onto your iPod? But that isn't the point...the poster likes his Zip750 and on its own merits, it gets the job done quickly and easily. If I had one, I'd be happy with it, too. Personally, I'd probably get an external FW/800 HDD when I get my new PowerBook just for the ability of having a high performance HD I can use for extra space and backing up when needed. It's all personal opinion. I just think it's easier and quicker to drag a bunch of files onto the Zip drive icon than to prepare a CD to burn when I want to quickly copy or move files. And if all of you are unhappy with your Zip drives, then by all means, you can give them to me. :)
 
i don't feel rabid, i am just advocating my right to laugh my ass off at whomever i please. i don't see why anybody should get bent out of shape about that. you can laugh about me with my Combo drive and 30 GB iPod as much as you want, and then some. in fact, if you laugh hard enough, you may just foam at the mouth, and then who'd be rabid.

i also laugh at anyone who's taking this seriously enough to get bent out of shape. ZIPs are cool. so is Latin. it's still dead though. sure, plenty of people use ZIPs. plenty of people use latin, too. but it's not ubiquitous, which CDRs very much are. this is fact. now, if you want to be all cool and grab yo'self a bite of history and use ZIP discs and speak latin, you go grrrrl, or boy. it is, as all us extremist psycho jerks have confessed right up front, your money, at the end of the day, which we charge you in the name of your own life to use to exact your own happiness.
 
Originally posted by VIREBEL661
Isn't this the same as creating a disc image in Toast? Just a question...
Click to expand...

There are disk images with just files, and then there are ones which actually record the subcodes, or physical layout of the disk and stuff. I haven't seen anything on OS X that does that yet.
 
Originally posted by Shadowfax
i don't feel rabid, i am just advocating my right to laugh my ass off at whomever i please. i don't see why anybody should get bent out of shape about that. you can laugh about me with my Combo drive and 30 GB iPod as much as you want, and then some. in fact, if you laugh hard enough, you may just foam at the mouth, and then who'd be rabid.

i also laugh at anyone who's taking this seriously enough to get bent out of shape. ZIPs are cool. so is Latin. it's still dead though. sure, plenty of people use ZIPs. plenty of people use latin, too. but it's not ubiquitous, which CDRs very much are. this is fact. now, if you want to be all cool and grab yo'self a bite of history and use ZIP discs and speak latin, you go grrrrl, or boy. it is, as all us extremist psycho jerks have confessed right up front, your money, at the end of the day, which we charge you in the name of your own life to use to exact your own happiness.
Click to expand...

i like your attitude.
 
My Latin is a bit rusty... habeo saltatium squirrelum sub mii tunicam *coughs* damn, 3 years of not using Latin sure leaves you blank, but since I spoke some Latin and have a Zip drive next to me, I think I'll ride off into the sunset feeling secure in my coolness. :cool: But at any rate, I love both using removable media and CDR, they both have their purpose and usefulness. I love being able to just burn myself a CD whenever I am in the mood for a certain musical taste while driving to work or home during breaks. Plus, it's cool putting those failed CDs or otherwise unneeded ones in the microwave and see them spark...I never did that for myself, but my roommate would spend hours doing things like that (with his own microwave, mind you) I am sure Zip drives will become out of date beyond exsistance just as floppies are about as dead as the dinos right now. I've seen some cool storage devices and even cooler future products coming out. I have myself a keychain USB storage device, a superdisk drive, a zip drive, and once I get my new PowerBook, I'll have a superdrive and possibly get a firewire HD, too. I haven't used the superdisk drive in forever, but it was handy about 5 years ago when my PC friends or teachers woul give me a floppy disk. Same with the Zip drive, it has given me years of reliable backup service and all the computers at school have Zip drives to use but not always a CD rom drive. It's all about options and as Mac users, we have tons of them.
 
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