Iomega Zip 750MB USB 2.0 External

October 2nd, 2002

Pros: More capacity for Zip users; read Zip 250/100 slightly faster; good Windows/Mac backup software.
Cons: Poor backward compatibility; relatively expensive media.
Verdict: 750MB Zip's late entry won't get people to switch from CD-R/W, but organizations relying on Zip will welcome the extra storage.

What started out as the likely successor of the decade old 1.44MB floppy format is now the contender to the ever popular CD-R/W media. Iomega’s third generation Zip 750MB offers a tad more capacity than CD-RW disc and some nifty backup software, but falls short in terms of speed, compatibility and media cost.

Zip Grows Up
Positioned as a reliable backup alternative to CD-RW drives, the Zip 750MB USB 2.0 External now reaches a capacity sweet spot, putting Zip back to the race with optical drive in the removable media market. At $15 apiece, the new 750MB Zip disks sell for the same price as the Zip 250MB before the launch. Technically, the media cost has went down quite substantially, but it’s still sky high compared to an average $2 CD-RW disc. It’s unfortunate that the media cost hasn’t gone down in all these years. While Zip 750MB couldn’t compete with its cost, the media hard plastic is less vulnerable to scratches than optical disc.

As the name implies, the drive interfaces with Hi-Speed USB port (a.k.a. USB 2.0). To realize full advantage of this drive, you will need to connect it to a Hi-Speed USB port. Windows 98 SE/ME users will call on some 3rd party support to trigger the Hi-Speed USB mode on the drive whereas Windows 2000/XP owners can grab the certified USB 2.0 driver from Windows Update. Mac users, who might want to jump to the FireWire model, should be pleased to see MacOS X native utility and backup suite. The accompanying IomegeWare lets you write-protect and password-protect your zip disks; Automatic Backup takes care of the schedule backups, and Sync naturally makes sure the files on your zip are the latest from your hard drive. The trio worked nicely together, and performed flawlessly on our Windows XP Professional desktop and iBook laptop.

Mixed Performance
The advertised speeds at 50x read, write, and rewrite translate to 7.5MB/s, but we couldn’t reproduce the same numbers on our Windows XP system. The single file copy to the Zip 750MB got closer to 5.5MB/s, and assorted file transfer of 300 files to the Zip resulted in even a slower rate at 2MB/s. Retrieving the files from the Zip fared better, getting closer to 6MB/s. Though, the write speeds will be much slower if you don’t turn on the write caching in Device Manager. Windows 2000, however, has this enabled by default. Unfortunately, if you continue to use this drive with your existing Zip 250MB, 100MB media, you could find these drawbacks annoying. First, Zip 100MB is only readable; second, writing on a Zip 250MB on the Zip 750MB USB 2.0 is about 3 to 4 times slower than doing the same on a Zip 250 native drive. To the drive's credit, reading off files from our last generation disks is now 40% faster. Anyhow, don’t kiss your old drive goodbye just yet as it might come in handy when dealing with some of your smaller capacity Zip’s.

The Bottom Line
As the successor to the three year-old Zip 250MB format, the new Zip 750MB debuts with triple more capacity and faster speed. While the new drive is a decent upgrade for organizations that standardize on using Zip, it also brings along some compatibility problems for your stockpile of Zip 250 and 100 disks.

Where to buy Iomega Zip 750MB USB 2.0 External?


User Review(s)

"DO NOT BUY ONE, THE HARD/SOFTWARE IS NO GOOD" I BOUGHT ONE AND THE HARDWARE WHEN IT WORKS IS SLOW......................................... THE SOFTWARE DOES NOT WORK THE DRIVER FILES DO NOT WORK. AND IT WILL WRECK WINDOWS AND YOU WILL BE FORCED TO FORMAT YOUR HARD DRIVE BECAUSE THE SOFTWARE WILL CRASH YOUR COMPUTER EVERY TIME YOU BOOT!!. From THESPY, January 03, 2003

We're currently upgrading our user review system; so we won't be accepting new reviews for now.

Zip 750MB USB 2.0 External Specs

Interface(s)	Hi-Speed USB
Released date	September 2003
Platforms	Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, MacOS 9.0, MacOS X
Drive type	Zip
Compatible media	Zip 750MB, Zip 250MB, Zip 100MB (Read only)
Average transfer rate	7.5MB/s
Seek time	45ms
Other interface(s)	none
Software	IomegaWare Software
Disk protection method	via software
Extra?	--
Power source	Self-powered
Warranty	One year

Extras
Turn on and off this self-powered device automatically with your PC.
Lost a USB cable? Get a replacement USB cable.
Running out of USB ports? Get an extra USB hub.
You may need a new USB card to achieve Hi-Speed USB speeds.
Confirm with our USB 2.0 FAQ if you have Hi-Speed USB on your PC.