LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.
OWC: Top Quality Memory for Faster Mac Performance 1GB/2GB/4GB Kits from
$23.99/$47.99/$94.99 Expert Support, Free Installation Videos & Guides,
Lifetime Advance Replacement Warranty - www.MacSales.com
So you have an iMac or B&W G3, and you totally love it - but
you need to buy a low-cost removable-media drive. What should you
get? With this criteria, you have three options: a Zip drive, a
SuperDisk (a.k.a. LS-120) drive, or a standard floppy drive.
Zip drives for USB Macs , such as the iMac and the
B&W G3, are made by Iomega <www.iomega.com>, who invented the
Zip ($129), and Microtech <www.microtech-pc.com> (their
drive is called the Mii SlimZip) ($199). Zip technology is the
fastest in the group, 3-15 times as fast as a SuperDisk or a
floppy.
A Zip disk is similar in design to a floppy except the
read/write heads slide in through the front of the disk and the
disks are a lot thicker. It stores 92MB when formatted.
Zip Drives are best for storing larger files, backing up, and
sending large files to service bureaus. The Iomega drive is
much cheaper, but the Microtech drive is a lot smaller and
(in my humble opinion) looks cooler.
USB SuperDisk drives are made by Imation
<www.imation.com>
($149) and Winstation <www.winstation.com> ($154).
SuperDisks use "Floptical" technology, which is almost exactly
identical to a floppy except that the disks have optical servo
tracks. These allow the read/write heads to be placed much more
precisely and boosts formatted capacity to 118MB. Since the drive
uses a standard floppy mechanism, it can also read and write PC and
Mac floppy disks.*
SuperDisk drives are best for the same uses as floppy drives
(below), as well as storing larger files and backing up. The
Imation drive is five bucks cheaper, but the Winstation drive can
be oriented in the space-saving vertical position.
Regular USB floppy disk drives are made by
VST <www.vsttech.com>,
Mactell <www.mactell.com>, Microtech
<www.microtech-pc.com>, and
Newer Technologies <www.newertech.com>. Each retails
for $99. These have the same capabilities as the internal Apple
SuperDrives (not to be confused with SuperDisk Drives).* As you
probably already know, the formatted capacity of high-density
floppy disks is 1.44MB.
These drives are best for using your old floppy disks and for
slowly transferring small files to and from other computers
that also have floppy drives. They are less expensive than a
SuperDisk drive. All of them perform equally.
Another option if you need more storage space or to back-up
files is FreeDrive <www.freedrive.com>, which gives
you 20 MB of Internet storage space for free. The speed of the
"disk" depends on your Internet connection speed.
I hope I have helped you decide what removable-media drive is
best for your needs (or that you don't need a removable-media
drive).
* Note: none of these drives support the Macintosh 800KB floppy
format. Also, compared with the Zip drive, they are considerably
slower.
Recent Content on Low End Mac
Looking for a Content Management System That's as Easy as Mac, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 08.29.
Low End Mac needs to move to a content management system, but the few we've tried just don't cut it for people used to the simple elegance of the Mac.
10 Mac Browsers Compared, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 08.28.
A look at Internet Explorer, Radon, Opera, Safari, Shiira, iCab, Firefox, Netscape Navigator, Flock, and Camino running in Leopard.
Clone and Boot: Another Advantage of the Mac OS, Kev Kitchens, Kitchens Sync, 08.28.
Unlike Windows, Apple makes it possible to clone a bootable drive (Classic Mac OS or OS X) and use it with another supported Mac.
Latest Deals on Low End Mac
Best Power Mac G4 Deals, 08.29.
Used 450 MHz AGP, $75; 500, $99; 800 QS, $199; 1.25 GHz MDD, $375; 450 MHz dual, $179; 867 dual, $300; 1 GHz dual, $395; 1.42 dual, $575.
Best classic Mac OS Deals, 08.28.
System 6, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5.1, $4; Mac OS 7.6, $13; 8.0, $13; 8.1, $48; 8.5, $25; 8.6, $20; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $20; more.
All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For
price quotes and advertising information, please contact
at BackBeat Media
(646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.
Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer
5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We
recommend Firefox
for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more
secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox
than any other browser.
Zip drives for USB Macs , such as the iMac and the
B&W G3, are made by Iomega <
USB SuperDisk drives are made by Imation
<
Regular USB floppy disk drives are made by
VST <
