PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Choosing a High-Capacity FDD

Use the following guidelines when choosing a high-capacity FDD:

• If you need to exchange data bidirectionally with other people or computers not on your network. Buy a drive compatible with the media in use. SuperDisk Drives and Zip Drives cannot read or write each other’s media. SuperDisk Drives are common on recent Compaq computers, but are seldom seen elsewhere. Zip Drives are by far the most commonly used superfloppy, so installing one allows you to exchange data with more people. In theory, the Zip750 Drive is most flexible because it reads all Zip disks and writes 750 MB and 250 MB disks. But the inability of the Zip750 to write 100 MB disks means it isn’t useful if you need to exchange data with people who use Zip100 drives. In that situation, choose the Zip250 Drive.

• If you need to send data to other people or computers, but will not receive data from them. Do not buy a high-capacity FDD. Buy a CD-RW drive and a supply of CD-R discs. Nearly everyone has a CD-ROM drive that can read the CDs you produce, and sending people $0.20 CD-R discs is a lot less painful than sending them $10 Zip disks.

• If you will use the drive to back up and/or archive data. Do not buy a high-capacity FDD. They are unsuitable for these purposes because they are slow and use costly and relatively unreliable media. If backup is your primary need, buy a tape drive. If you need to archive data permanently, buy a CD-RW drive or DVD writer and archive the data to optical ...