Jim,

A final comment: even if Zip discs and drives did work flawlessly, it 
still would not be a good idea to use them or *any* magnetic media 
for long-term data storage. This includes magneto-optical discs. 
*All* magnetic storage devices are volatile and lose date over time, 
regardless of how high-quality their construction and design may be.

Phil

>Hi Todd,
>
>I was surprised and alarmed to read your comments on the Iomega Zip 100
>drives.  I thought I would check up on whether there were problems in our
>Department as we have a large number of the external type in use.  They are
>gradually being  replaced as people buy new computers with internal Zip
>drives already installed.  The only person seemingly to have suffered is
>myself and I had the click-of-death syndrome, but thankfully no loss of
>data.
>
>I contacted Iomega (Europe) by telephone and had to let the person I was
>calling hear the clicks over the line.  He took my details over the phone
>and asked  how long I had had the drive, to which I was very vague in my
>reply.  The upshot of all this was that they sent me a new drive by post
>within 3 days with packaging to return the defunct drive back to them.
>They did not ask for proof of purchase, dates etc., but did stipulate that I
>had to return the drive within a month or they would charge me for it.
>There was no charge either for the new drive nor the return postage, so I
>did feel Iomega had treated me pretty well overall.
>
>Your experiences, however, may cause me to re-think my long term data
>storage plans.
>
>Jim Hall,
>University College London Medical School,
>England. UK.
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Todd Sherman <t-sherman@home.com>
>To: Plummer, Timothy B. <Plummer.Timothy@mayo.edu>;
><histonet@pathology.swmed.edu>
>Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 6:47 AM
>Subject: RE: digital imaging
>
>
>>  Hello Timothy,
>>
>>  Sounds like your DVD setup is quite effective.  I wanted to add some
>>  comments regarding the Iomega Zip 100 however unflattering as they may be.
>>
>>  Executive summary:
>>  Fawlty, I mean faulty, drive; unreliable and pricey media; buggy software
>>  Acceptable for trivial storage; rapid data access
>>
>>  The nitty-gritty:
>>  I used to be an advocate of the product and have personally/professionally
>>  installed more than ten of these units over the last four years in
>different
>>  operating systems.  Six years ago when these devices first started
>>  proliferating, neither writable CDROMs nor DVDs existed and they were a
>>  great alternative to the floppy disk.  I now discourage their use as an
>>  archival storage system.
>>
>>  I have had two drives fail because of the "click-of-death" syndrome...and
>>  no, I'm not making this up.  A class action suit was filed and is
>currently
>>  being settled [JASON RINALDI, ET AL. v. IOMEGA CORPORATION, Civil Action
>No.
>>  98C-09-064-RRC : SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE] in which "the
>>  Court has entered an Order which preliminarily determined that the
>>  Plaintiffs fairly and adequately represent the interests of the Class and
>>  are proper parties to assert these claims."  The claims made were "(1)
>that
>>  the ZipAE Drives contain a manufacturing and/or design defect that causes
>a
>>  iclickingi problem, and (2) that as a result of the alleged defect, users
>>  experience damage to the ZipAE Drive, to the media contained on ZipAE
>Disks
>>  inserted into the drives or to other drives into which the ZipAE Disks are
>>  inserted."
>>
>>  I've had another Zip drive "eat" a disk; i.e. some internal mechanism
>>  pinched the media surface and tore the film.  I and others have had stored
>>  data irretrievably lost when a second disk was inserted after a previous
>>  disk was accessed and ejected.  This was a either an driver/operating
>system
>>  error or an Iomega software utility error.  I found a workaround for this
>>  but it was an unacceptable solution.
>>
>>  Further, the disks are expensive with a price range of $8.00 to $15.00 per
>>  100MB disk.  There is some economy in the cost of the drive itself
>compared
>>  to RW-CDROMs or DVDs, but that savings is quickly lost when you add a
>>  lifetime of storage disks to your total cost of unit operation.
>>
>>  I have no reservations using the devices for routine data transfer or
>>  temporary storage as long as I preserve an original source.  But in my
>>  opinion it would be foolish to rely on these devices for archiving,
>>  especially the storage of critical patient or research material.  The
>CDROM
>>  solution seems the most cost effective at this point but I suspect DVD use
>>  could become the preferred archival media in the near future.
>>
>>  Regards, Todd
>>
>>  Todd Sherman
>>  t-sherman@home.com
>>  IT student
>>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: Plummer, Timothy B. [mailto:Plummer.Timothy@mayo.edu]
>>  Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 8:28 AM
>>  To: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
>>  Subject: RE: digital imaging
>>
>>  <snipped by Todd Sherman>
>>
>>  For people interested in using these permanent
>>  storage options it is recommended that you take some time to consider your
>>  storage size needs, access requirements, and file organization.  The DVD
>>  system is really nice.  Other options to consider would be JAZ 1-2GB(sp?)
>>  drives and for small needs- ZIP 100MB  from Iomega.
>>
>>  Timothy B. Plummer
>>  Coordinator, ImmunoPathology Core Facility
>>  Transplantation Biology Research
>>  Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN, USA
>>  Phone: 507.538.0689
>>  fax: 507.284.4957
>>  plummer.timothy@mayo.edu
>>  http://researchweb.mayo.edu/transplantation_biology/
>>
>>
>>

-- 
}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{
Philip Oshel
Supervisor, AMFSC and BBPIC microscopy facilities
Department of Animal Sciences
University of Wisconsin
1675 Observatory Drive
Madison,  WI  53706 - 1284
voice: (608) 263-4162
fax: (608) 262-5157 (dept. fax)