Biennial Crash Testing

[Jacob Sommer]

Holly Lisle wrote:
> 
> On 14 May 99, at 7:21, Ron Jarrell wrote:
> 
> > The real solution is not to invest in a new platform just because you're
> > afraid that the old one is crashing too much, but rather to invest in backup
> > hardware, and then proceed to actually use it religiously.  Something like
> > a Jaz drive can be had quite cheaply, as these things go, and has removable
> > 2G cartridges.  Ideally, you dump your life to it once a week, and start the
> > morning out each day with a refreshing snapshot of changes over the last 24
> > hours.  (Using real backup software, not the stuff that comes with windows.)
> 
> Okay.  I have never used a Jaz drive.  Is it fast?  Is it reliable?  Is it
> subject to strange deteriorations like tape cartridges are?  (I don't
> even want to think about the time when I was reinstalling stuff from a
> tape drive and the tape jammed.  One of those moments when I did
> everything right and I still got slammed.

Holly, Jaz drives are made by the same folks who made your 
Zip drive, Iomega.  I have heard varying reports in the past 
about the quality of their products but I have heard nothing 
bad recently.  I have heard literally no bad news about the 
Jaz drives; and as they are being touted as one of the most 
wonderful things to hit the computer since the mouse (or 
sometimes the sledgehammer) I suspect it's probably not all
that bad.  However, it costs a lot for those backup disks.
Last I knew the minimum price anywhere came out to somewhere
around $60 a disk, and that was buying more than one at a
time.

Jacob