By JVC
Wed Feb 19, 2014 6:09 pm
distortedtekno wrote:Luckily, I've only had one or two Zip discs fail on me a long time ago. Those discs were from a friend. None of my own had failed, and neither has my original drive that I still have from 1998.
I'm curious to know, out of all the people who've had Zip drives fail on them, were they bought used? I'm wondering if these failures have occurred due to improper use and handling. I'm sure that keeping a Zip drive standing sideways shortens it's life-span. It's also possible that traveling with a Zip drive will shorten it's lifespan.
Keeping a disc inserted in the drive while traveling may help prevent the mechanism from excessive vibrations, just as recommended for floppy discs and similar devices. So a few preventative measures are worth following here to prolong the life of the drive. There's still no guarantee of whether it will help if these drives fail for other reasons that are unknown. But these suggestions won't hurt either.
This is off the topic, but
I think you should consider yourself lucky. No data storage system should be as fragile as ZIP drives, and many cases, ZIP drives would just crap out regardless. I wouldn't mess with Zip drive, unless I have absolutely no choice.
I've heard so many horror stories with ZIP drives when Zip disk was popular. (like, a DOA ZIP disk delivered by messenger...) On one really liked ZIPs, it was popular just because it was cheaper then other options. (Syquest EZ drive was other horrible one, but that's other story.)
On the contrary, MO drive never failed me, and I don't know any one who had a bad experience with MOs. It is a good example that good technology doesn't always prevail market share. (MO was very popular in Japan though.)
Back to the topic, in my opinion, MPC2000 classic should be much cheaper than XL. To me, XL is what 2000 Classic should have been.
By the way, I don't believe that MPC2000 classic and XL sound different. (I had 2000 Classic, and I currently own XL.)













