NEW ZIP 250 USB Host Powered drive is a gem (Iomega ZIP 250 MB USB Powered)

Member Name: Cheuk

Product:	Iomega ZIP 250 MB USB Powered
Date:	21/05/01 (178 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Host powered, no power cable needed, excellent for laptop users (no extra PMCIA needed), Light and portable, Disks are rugged compared to CDs

Disadvantages: Expensive Media (£/Mb), Slow writing performance to 100Mb disks

I had waited to purchase the host powered version of the drive to go with my Dell laptop (read opinion) to provide a good portable drive solution which gives me access to all my data. Boy was it worth the wait, and it was also cheap as well.

Opening the box sees a new shaped Zip 250 disk providing immediate use of the drive, a stand to hold the drive vertiacally, two CDs with system software and an application disks and a USB cable to connect it to the PC. Where's the power cable? Well this drive doesn't need one. The drive is powered by the USB port and so ideal for portable use. No need to fork out another 25 quid for the PMCIA connection.

The drive is the same size and has the slim sexy shape of the previous drive. It feels lighter and hence slightly more flimsy as the connections at the back from the previous drive is replaced with a solitary USB connection. The colour is slightly different if you look carefully and the added printed USB host powered differentiates this from the previous model.

Installation with Win Me was painless though it wasn't recognised first time, as Win Me insisted of installing its own drivers initially. Anyway a reboot later and the drive was up and running.

The applications software, to be honest I haven't bothered to install, it includes a demo version of Quiksync which is a shame and MP3 ripping software and other bits and bobs. Also different from the previous version is the lack of IOMEGA dominated options with the right mouse click and icons which is a good thing in a way, but a bit unnerving and feels as though something is missing, but I can live without it.

The drive is typically the same but powers down very quickly. Its slightly noisy. In use writing to the Zip 250 drive is quick about 0.9Mb/min and reading of both 100 and 250Mb disks was quick. However like its previous models, writing to 100 Mb disk is painfully slow anour 0.1Mb/min. Anyone wi
th a large collection of 100Mb disks may be better considering the 100Mb version instead, but like me if speed is not that important and backward compatibility is essential then this is an ideal drive.

Overall an excellent addition to my system, light and easy to use. Only problem is the media is rather expensive compared to CDs now (IOMEGA are you listening) but otherwise an essential purchase.

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