7.5 Our Picks
Here are the high-capacity floppy disk drives we
recommend:
- For general-purpose systems
-
None. There's
seldom reason to install a high-capacity FDD in a general-purpose
system. For inexpensive archiving and backing up, or for transferring
moderately large files between non-networked systems, a Plextor
PlexWriter CD-RW drive with Ahead Software's Nero
Burning ROM software is a much-superior solution in every
respect—cost, performance, and reliability. For moderate
capacity removable storage with drive letter access, we recommend a
Plextor PlexWriter CD-RW drive with Ahead Software's
InCD software, which makes a CD-RW disc look like a giant floppy. See
Chapter 11 for more information about CD-RW drives
and software.
- For specialized applications
-
Zip Drive or SuperDisk Drive, according to
specific requirements.
About the only good reason to install a high-capacity FDD is to
transfer moderately large files between systems that are not
networked and cannot read (or read/write) CDs. For example, you may
have a notebook computer that has a SuperDisk installed but does not
have a CD writer or a network card. In that situation, installing a
SuperDisk on your desktop system may be the simplest way to exchange
files between the systems. Or you may need to exchange large graphics
files with a pre-press graphics house that accepts only Zip disks, in
which case installing a Zip250 Drive provides both reasonably high
capacity and compatibility with the relatively large installed base
of Zip100 and Zip250 Drives.
In general, the internal ATAPI models of either the Zip Drive or the
SuperDisk Drive provide high performance, the fewest compatibility
problems, and the lowest cost. However, if your application requires
an external drive—perhaps because you need to move the drive
from machine to machine—consider your choice of interface
carefully per the guidelines listed earlier in the chapter. For more
information about the drive, see http://www.iomega.com (Zip) and http://www.mke.panasonic.co.jp/en/device/device.htm
(SuperDisk).
For updated recommendations, visit:
- http://www.hardwareguys.com/picks/fdd.html
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