[ale] backups

Eric Hunter Eidson hunter at dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu
Tue Mar 12 13:16:47 EST 1996


> > I have a notebook with a pcmcia/scsi2 card and want to buy a scsi
> > drive to use for backups (about 400 meg). I have seen ads for
> > syquest and zip drives with removable discs. Is there some reason
> > to prefer one of these, or is there a better choice?
> 
> That all depends. The Syquest drives hold more data per disc and are in
> general much faster than the zip drives. I believe the syquest drive came
> out after the zip drive flooded the market and it was intended as a
> response to the zip drive.
> 
> I believe that the syquest uses some type of hard drive technology. The
> discs are therefore more expensive, hold more data, and have faster access. 
> 135MB per cart with a 18 ms access I think.  I see to remember the syquest
> drives are internal IDE drives only. They may have an external version but
> I think they are still IDE.
 
The SyQuest is available in Internal IDE, External SCSI, and supposedly
External Parallel was just released.  BTW:  it is sub 13ms access time,
and the cartridges are only $20, which, the last time I did the math,
was cheaper per meg than the zip (although zip carts have gone down a
little since then, I think).

I don't consider it a choice (IMHO), the SyQuest EX-Drive (Esp SCSI)
is *THE* way to go.  The only down-side is that it is a bear to find
SyQuest carts on the North-Side, at least.  Anyone knowing where they
regularly stock a large supply, please let me know... :)

One other thing, the EZ-Drive(SCSI) comes with a Centronics to DB-25
cable, so you might need to hunt down another SCSI cable also... :(

Let me know if you have any other questions, Flames, etc...

         --Hunter

-- (chSig Random Fortune Signature V2.0)
Fourth Law of Revision:
	It is usually impractical to worry beforehand about
	interferences -- if you have none, someone will make one for you.






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