The Zip drives cause more of a niche market, but there are some things that speaks mainly for the "ZIP 250 USB powered": First of all, it should be noted that, as the name suggests, no additional power supply is needed (which of course presupposes that the USB port power supplies). Thus, it is just plug in and use - so it is extremely portable with its small dimensions (17 x 11 x 3 cm) and low weight (not even 500 grams). If you want to transfer data, you can either burn a CD, or you can save it to Zip disk, and the disk simply attach elsewhere. That's just interesting when you for example similar between two jobs swings, and required data in both places; in this case, I find the zip solution to be very pleasant. Especially with newer Windows versions (eg 2000, XP), there should be no problems, because these respective drivers already bring (Plug - & - Play works sometimes but). Newer Linux kernels (2.4.20 loud from Iomega's website) assist the drive as well. The only thing you need the Iomega software (and the post-installation under Windows unfortunately requires a reboot), is responsible for the read and write protection of the disc; There namely no small tabs more, you can / must ;-) up or push The operation went smoothly - the drive acts like a removable hard drive that is in the face of 238 Mb per disk (yes, the marketing department expect just different) even close to the truth. The data transfer rate of 0.9 Mb / s are certainly not "state-of-the-art" (USB 1.1 conditionally), but completely out of reach if you want to make backups of important data, for example. (Someone who his old 100- wants to continue to use MB disks, sorry to writing with wicked speed penalty (only 0.2 Mb / s) life, but reading remains at 0.8 Mb / s.) Minor points, there are also in this product: In the package is still Although the USB cable and the installation CD, but a medium is not supplied (which in contrast to burners walk and add). In addition, the price of a medium compared to a blank CD, which summarizes much more data, quite high, and it will probably continue to change anything (for the Zip disks robust, which is particularly important for data backup ). One last point, which is noticed something disturbing is the right loud starting the motor, but this is only for a short time. For continuous access and also at a standstill, the drive is inaudible. In summary, in my opinion, speaks the portability of the drive (P'n'P, size / weight, no additional power supply) and the rather high capacity of Zip disks for the product. Ultimately, it will probably nevertheless remain a rare occurrence, because for many purposes better alternatives (but can not cover as many areas as a Zip drive) exist.
