Dave Andrews
Even with compression, the 1.44-MB floppy drive is woefully inadequate for many of today's software applications that can quickly fill a 3.5-inch floppy disk. But at least three technologies that offer storage capacities of 100 MB or more are vying to become the next floppy standard.
One entrant is lead by three companies: PC and server vendor Compaq Computer (Houston, TX), disc supplier 3M (St. Paul, MN), and peripheral manufacturer Matsushita-Kotobuki Electronics (Takamatsu, Japan). The three say their formatted disks will each hold 120 MB of data, and their new drive, based on floptical technology, will be able to read and write to today's 1.44 MB--and the older 720-KB DOS-formatted--3.5-inch disks. Kevin Bohren, vice president of marketing in Compaq's desktop division, says the first PCs to have the new
drives in them will likely appear in late 1995.
The 120-MB standard will compete with Roy, UT-based Iomega's 100-MB Zip drive, which uses Bernoulli technology and Winchester heads and is already shipping commercially (see the review "Portable Data Stars"). The Zip drive holds 20 MB less than 3M's disc and is not backward compatible with current 3.5-inch floppies. But Cory Maloy, spokesman for Iomega, notes that almost every computer already has a floppy drive. "We don't see it [backward compatibility] as an issue now." However, he did say the company may release a drive that combines separate Zip and floppy discs in one bay. The company plans to release an internal version of the Zip drive in the third quarter of 1995.
Fremont, CA-based Syquest will release the third entrant, a 135-MB disk cartridge, this summer. Internal versions of Syquest's EZ-135 Disk Drive will sell for about $200, with media at about $19.95 (prices that are comparable to that of Iomega's Zip drive). Syquest says its drive,
which uses removable Winchester media in a cartridge, will be twice as fast as a Zip drive.
Who will win the race? Data transfer speed will be a critical factor, but as of press time, only Iomega was shipping product.
3.5 Will Get You 100
