To zip or not to zip..

4connor

4connor

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Hello all,
I own a small (tiny) construction company and I wanted to start keeping my work files seperate from the rest of the family. Do I use a zip-drive for that? If so, how easy is it to use? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
 
4connor said:
Hello all,
I own a small (tiny) construction company and I wanted to start keeping my work files seperate from the rest of the family. Do I use a zip-drive for that? If so, how easy is it to use? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Click to expand...
we work with a lot of scientific data and there is always the issue of storage and portability.
this is a checklist for ways of storing sensitive data with the order going from the best (most reliable) to the worst way of storing data.
1. etch in stone / metal
3. have a hard or paper copy
4. store it on a mirror server preferably 2
5. burn it to a CD or a DVD ( kind of CD or DVD also matters)
6. store it on a separate hard drive.
7. store it on a flash based drive.(SD memory, CF etc)
8. store it on a zip disk
9. store it on a floppy disk
10. file created on the computer but not saved.

i prefer having a back up on my hard drive and like to keep the working files on a good 256 MB flash drive. later on i transfer them to hard drive.

my experience with zip drives has taught me that they are good for short uses. they have too many movable parts and are prone to disk errors and disk jams. also if you access the disk a lot then the probability of disk getting corrupted also goes up.
 
To avoid the expense of buying a zip drive etc., I'd either put another hard drive on your computer just for that purpose (since you can get 100GB+ drives for around $50 or less). Otherwise if you already have a DVD burner, I'd probably just put all the files on some DVD-RW media (4.7GB per disc goes a long way). Another option is some of the large thumb drives so you can be mobile with your information.

If you have your heart set on a zip drive, they aren't difficult to use at all.

Good luck!
 
jubjub said:
my experience with zip drives has taught me that they are good for short uses. they have too many movable parts and are prone to disk errors and disk jams. also if you access the disk a lot then the probability of disk getting corrupted also goes up.
Click to expand...

my experiences are the same. i dont know about the recent "improved" zip cartridges and drives but the first series were pure junk.

i have bought packs and packs of iomega and fuji film zip drives before, all corrupted in less then one year.

id go with a large memory stick, been using the same pny 128 stick for 2 years now and now problems. i ve left it in the hot parked car a few times and still working great.
 
Check out this information about the Click of Death from Zip drives. I'd stay away from them and go with the other suggestions above.
Iomega's drives sometimes fall victim to a malady known as the Click of Death. Sounds bad, is bad. Learn what you can do about it, and get my free "Trouble In Paradise" (TIP) early warning utility.
Click to expand...
 
IMHO, Zip drive is way expensive. You cld buy a hardrive rack and get 2 or more hard drives hot-swappable. And mount it. Based on your data priority it is advised to set up RAID [hard drive mirroring].
 
O_loung1 said:
my experiences are the same. i dont know about the recent "improved" zip cartridges and drives but the first series were pure junk.

i have bought packs and packs of iomega and fuji film zip drives before, all corrupted in less then one year.

id go with a large memory stick, been using the same pny 128 stick for 2 years now and now problems. i ve left it in the hot parked car a few times and still working great.
Click to expand...

If I used a memory stick, can I shuffle files back and forth, like I write alot of bids, some go into work orders and some clients dont accept the bids, so they stay there as bids. I usually drag the bid to my construction file and then to a seperate address file for future reference. I really wanted a system that I could do all of my work with. Write bids, final bills and work orders without having to worry about my daughter downloading a virus that would eat them. Cause thats probably when the tax-man and his brother audit-man would appear and I have no expenses, only income. That wont look good.
I really appreciate you all taking the time to help.
Thanks again.
 
4connor said:
If I used a memory stick, can I shuffle files back and forth, like I write alot of bids, some go into work orders and some clients dont accept the bids, so they stay there as bids. I usually drag the bid to my construction file and then to a seperate address file for future reference.
Click to expand...

You can do all that with a flash drive, you can work on a flash drive and keep making changes with working files

..daughter downloading a virus that would eat them.
Click to expand...

No external storage device USB flash, ZIp drive, floppy drive, Hard disk by itself is safe from viruses.

viruses can affect only if the parent computer is infected with a virus.

so as long as you dont work on a affected computer your data should be safe on a flash drive.
 
I wouldnt use a memory stick, they have a habit of deleting themselves, Im not sure why, perhaps people rubbed them on something & the static electricity did it?
 
morriefisher said:
I wouldnt use a memory stick, they have a habit of deleting themselves, Im not sure why, perhaps people rubbed them on something & the static electricity did it?
Click to expand...

are you talking about the sony memory stick?

SD cards usually have a pretty solid work history :bigok:
 
I hope so..... I haven't compiled an extensive file on every card yet.
 
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