Customer Reviews

Iomega 31310 Zip 250 MB USB-Powered Drive

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I've become dependent upon zip disk technology through years of using the older models but found the parallel models tedious to use because of competition for the only printer port, incompatibility with most printer switches and scanner ports, the touchiness of the software and slow performance. This USB model is an amazing upgrade because of its ease of use with Windows XP and the USB ports. I cite particularly the built in support in XP; no need to deal with the cumbersome IOMEGA software. XP will recognize its availability or removal quickly, and can format it as well, leaving no real need for for IomegaWare. I love the fact that it's powered by the USB port, obviating the need for an adapter and extra wire. The power requirement is 498mA and the standard USB port delivers 500mA.

Compared to backing up files on CD-R there's more instant gratification and less media handling to just copy files to the Zip drive, just as I would a hard drive. I develop web sites and want the security of having immediate copies of changed files on a removable medium and this fills the bill adequately. In my view it beats recording on multi-session CD-R's, waiting for the CD to finalize, and ... in all, can be a faster process actually.

Why the 250MB model? I wanted compatibility with the old 100MB media, and there are plenty of those out there. Otherwise I would have purchased the 750MB Zip for its USB 2.0 capability, but it can only read, not write, 100MB media. I primarily use 250MB media for my own purposes and I've noticed that it seems much faster on this drive than with the 100MB media. I don't know why yet.

Capacity? All of my web sites and important data folders are much less than 250 MB so that's not an issue for me. On a daily basis I backup only the active web sites, my email files, and spreadsheet data. For more voluminous data I use the nicely designed "Backup My PC" program from Stomp Software. This used to be the Seagate Backup Exec supplied with Windows 98 as "MS Backup". With compression the 250MB media can hold up to 400+ MB, nearing the capacity of a CDROM disc.

Performance? I can live with USB1.1 technology though I surely would have preferred 2.0 since my hardware (new Dell) supports it. Using a backup program like I often do, the writes to the Zip drive are kept to a minimum and I can backup/verify a 72MB web site in less than 2 minutes, far exceeding the promised maximum speed of .9Mbps of the USB 1.1 model. Initially the Zip drive ran very slowly and I was quite unhappy with that. Turns out that Windows XP has a setting in Device Manager under the Policies tab to "Optimize for performance". That was not being defaulted to. My performance increased 5 to 7-fold with this setting. Also, I was having intermittent media errors which disappeared when I unchecked "Enable write caching on the disk", again under "Policies".

In summary, I consider this USB Zip to be very convenient owing to its strong support from XP, freedom from confining power adapters, and hot plugability (on or off) to the USB port. I also like the Iomega Brand. Most important it offers me compatibility with most other computers I interface with and with acceptable capacity and speed. If you do buy this drive, consider favoring the 250MB media for yourself (performance, as well as capacity) and the 100MB for compatibility with others (if this applies to you).

Hope this information proves useful and that you find the 250MB Zip to be worth your $$$.

The 250MB USB-Powered Zip drive is great for backing up personal data (obviously not entire hard drives) and, thanks to the easy portability, for transferring data between computers. This drive costs the same as the Zip 250 USB drive that draws power from an AC adapter instead of the USB bus, which is of course less convenient, but that other model has a couple of advantages: 1) it can be upgraded to a FireWire interface using a... adapter from Iomega, which Iomega says doubles the read spead over using the drive in USB mode; and 2) the AC-adapter-powered drive can be used with USB hubs operating in unpowered mode, while this USB-powered drive has to be used with a powered hub or a PC's built-in USB port. But I think that the convenience of the USB-powered model outweighs the disadvantages, especially if you travel a lot. The stand that allows the drive to be oriented vertically (see the photos) is a nice touch that saves desk space.

this USB powered Zip dirve is the best. saves space at home. not a lot of cords. easy to use and install. very slim which can put in your pocket, ready to use. you can have the zip drive stand on its side. #1 ZIP DRIVE!!

--We've used a Zip 250 for well over 2-1/2 years now and are on our 33rd disc, and can't think of a single technical problem with the drive. After reading the horror stories about other electronics gear on Amazon, I can't believe this has been such a troublefree device (when reading about burnable CD's, words like "frisbees" are often used, and software is often cursed, but I don't think we've ever lost a photo or a file with ours). We haven't dropped ours or sat on it, like some reviewers have with theirs, but we have covered over 20,000 bumpy miles in an RV and live in a dusty climate, and it's been as eay to set up, as easy to use, and as reliable as an anvil. We bought ours because we heard editing photos was easier than with a CD, and have not been disappointed.
--Having said that, we may be switching over to a CD burner. For one thing, I'm not sure how long the format will last and I don't want to be stuck with a bin full of zip discs if our machine ever breaks. The discs are more expensive and more bulky than CD's, and it's tough to share files with a friend unless they have a zip, too. We won't be getting rid of our zip but will probably relegate it to editing photos.
--I rate this product highly because of its simplicity and reliability, but be aware it is getting dated (it's hard to stay one step ahead of storage formats). It makes a very decent backup system for files and some photos, but if you have tons of photos, you may want a CD or DVD. Hope this helps.

I have been a long-time user of Iomega Zip drives...the internal type. They have worked great and are convenient for quick access, transfer and back-up of daily computer files. I have some 60 Zip disks filled with an assortment of important files.

Since my internal Zip drive is on the same ribbon cable as my hard drive, and I wanted to add another hard drive to my computer, I had to give up the internal Zip drive (only two devices per ribbon cable). Therefore, I purchased the external Iomega 250MB USB Zip drive.

It is a plug-and-play device, so installation is instant. I put in my first disk and presto...it came alive...with a clunk, a grind and an assortment of other strange noises...it started working. First task...transfer about 24MB of info on to a disk. I waited and waited and waited some more. 12 minutes later it was finished. With the internal Zip drive this task would have taken about 12 seconds. I could have gone out and washed the car during the time I waited. My computer has USB2.0 but the device is only a USB1.1, so that might have something to do with it.

Not only did this drive take forever to complete its task, it was uncomfortably noisy. It makes all kinds of grinding noises, sometimes slowing down to a crawl then speeding up again. My internal drive made a little noise, but nothing like this. Forget about doing anything else on your computer while the Zip drive is chugging along.

I cannot recommend this product at all. It is slow and noisy and leaves me the general feeling of...well, being ripped off...because it is basically a cheap piece of junk!

At one time Zip drives were the best way to archive files simply because there were no other convenient options available. But, I think it is time to toss out all those old Zip disks and go to USB2.0 flash drives for easily accessible back-up and storage. For the big, more permanent archiving I burn files to CD's or DVD's. For daily back-ups and quick access, flash drives appear now to be the way to go.

Iomega had better consider producing other storage products because if they keep making junk like this, they won't be in business much longer.

This product is horrendous. After a few months it would crash my disks and then the drive itself eventually died. Zip disks as we all know are not [inexpensive] and the drive would continuously destroy them. This has cost me not only money but lost assignments and projects that were on the [disfunctional] disks. Iomega replaced my disfunctional drive with another one which ended up conking out on me as well.

I use this drive also for my PC. I plugged it into my USB port then suddenly my computer wouldn't start. Once I unplugged the zip drive the computer started working again. ???? None of my other equipment that attaches to my USB ports does this.
Having this drive has been one disaster after another...

I am a computer technician and was BLOWN AWAY !!! at the blazing speed of the USB version vs. the parallel port. It is a definite if you need to backup or transport files. Buy it you will not be disappointed.

I gave this 2 stars since I thought this would be the perfect external drive for traveling with my notebook book but failed to work with my notebook. When I tried to install this on the USB port of my notebook, it caused my notebook to slow its performance to a crawl. I later figured out that this drive needs a "high power" USB port. For those that don't know, there are "high power" and "low power" USB ports. There is nothing on the box of this drive that says it only works on high power USB ports. Not only that, Windows doesn't report the problem back to the user. What a waste of time and money. I later found out that Iomega makes a PC Card that is a high power USB port so that you can use this drive. Gad! What good is USB if it is not "universal".

This ZIP drive worked fine for a while and then just ceased to function so I returned the drive to Iomega for a replacement. The ... unit that was sent worked "OK", at best, with occasional glitches (an especially annoying "churning" of the drive as it attempts to recognize the disk). This unit finally ceased to function as well, drive isn't recognized at all. I've given up and will search for another alternative to this product.

I love this drive, very easy to install (windows auto detects and installs quite nicely). Being USB akes it very easy to travel with and can be used anywhere and on any computer with a USB port.

Now the downside....
The disks are quite expensive (About 10x more than a CDRW for way less storage).

If you are hoping to use the drive to restore systems files from at startup... forget it, you will need the serial port version of the Zip drive to do that.

This is an excellent solution for someone who needs to share files between multiple computers.

For pure backup of data however, A CDRW is a more cost effective solution.

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