One Gig to Go

Iomega's Jaz drive provides 1 GB of fast, removable media storage

G. Armour Van Horn

Iomega's Jaz may be the ultimate floppy drive. The $499 internal version fits into a 1-inch-high, 31/2-inch drive bay, and its data cartridges are roughly the size of four stacked floppy disks--but each cartridge holds just over a gigabyte of data. And where floppies are tediously slow, Jaz is faster than many hard drives. It has a rated 12-millisecond seek time, and we measured an average sustained transfer rate of 4.9 MBps during reads. We also measured the drive's sustained uninterrupted transfer rate at 3.3 MBps, which is fast enough for reading most audio/video data and cutting CD-ROMs.

Jaz uses a hard drive cartridge à la SyQuest (see the sidebar "Dust Buster" ). However, Jaz cartridges are the first to use two platters. Iomega expects cartridge prices to range between $100 and $125, depending on quantity. A 540-MB cartridge should go for around $69. The stackable, plastic-cased external Jaz (which costs around $599) resembles Iomega's Zip drive and provides automatic SCSI termination. Both Jaz models have motorized cartridge ejection and a fast SCSI-2 interface.

We tested the internal model, just before the release of the hardware, with beta software. We installed it on two PCs running Windows 95. We encountered an unusual compatibility problem between the Windows 95 driver for the Adaptec 2930 PCI SCSI controller card bundled with the drive and the Award BIOS in one system (ASUS motherboard). It locked up Windows 95. The card and drive worked with an Adaptec driver already on the system, but we couldn't install Iomega's utility software without also installing the problem driver. Although Iomega's Mac software wasn't ready, we also got Jaz working nicely in an external SCSI enclosure connected to a Macintosh Quadra 700 by using Silver Linings 5.33, a hard drive utility.

Jaz is strong on data security. Not only can you remove and lock up cartridges, you can also read- and write-protect them under password control using a provided utility. Another Jaz utility controls the drive's sleep mode. As a default, it spins down after 30 minutes of inactivity. The utilities install seamlessly into the Windows 95 interface; they show up in the menu that appears when you right-click on the Jaz drive icon.

The included data cartridge comes mostly loaded with Iomega software tools (for PCs and Macs), so your minimum investment will be $625 for an internal drive and a blank cartridge. That's between the street prices for 1- and 2-GB hard drive kits, but it's competitive for a removable-media drive. The Jaz drive's capacity and speed recommend it as a transport medium for large projects, as a mastering disk for CD-ROM production, as secure storage for sens itive data, and as an interesting approach to adding a second hard drive.

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PRODUCT INFORMATION

Jaz...........................$499 internal
   ...........................$599 external (estimated street prices)
  (includes 1-GB Tools cartridge and Adaptec 2930 PCI SCSI card)

Iomega Corp.
Roy, UT
Phone:    (800) 697-8833 or (801) 778-1000
Internet: 
http://www.iomega.com

Circle 1169 on Inquiry Card.

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Jaz Times Two

photo_link (44 Kbytes)

Two versions of Jaz: the external drive (top), and the internal version we tested. Both are SCSI drives, accept the same 540-MB and 1-GB data cartridges, and provide the same fast hard drive-level performance.

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G. Armour Van Horn is a production artist, graphics consultant, and writer on electronic imaging and prepress issues. His studio is on Whidbey Island, Washington. You can reach him on the Internet or BIX at vanhorn@bix.com .