Mixed performance
Iomega claims a transfer rate of up to 7.5MB per second (or 50X/50X/50X in CD-RW terms) with a USB 2.0 interface. But in CNET Labs' tests, the drive delivered mixed results. It took only 1 minute, 24 seconds to copy a single 393MB file to disk, an average transfer rate of about 6MB per second. However, the drive had trouble dealing with several files at once, taking a whopping 18 minutes to copy a 500MB mixed-file directory. By comparison, the Yamaha CRW-F1 burned a 400MB directory to CD-RW in 4 minutes, 46 seconds, and the Philips DVDRW228 burned a 500MB directory to DVD+RW in 2 minutes, 51 seconds.
The company also claims its new drive can read original 100MB Zip disks, as well as read and write to next-generation 250MB disks. However, in our tests, the drive read only one of three 100MB disks (we didn't have any 250MB disks available). When we called Iomega's tech support, a representative told us that, indeed, some of the original 100MB disks might not function in the new drive.
Iomega's strong support policy includes a standard, one-year warranty. Toll-free phone support is available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. MT, and Iomega's comprehensive Web site offers manuals, tutorials, FAQs, live one-on-one chat, and user-to-user forums. Fee-based support is also available for drives outside the warranty period.
The Iomega Zip 750MB external USB 2.0 drive can hold more data than a CD but offers limited portability and mixed performance. Still, students, family users, and stationary SOHO users will appreciate its strong security and backup and synchronization utilities.
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