Which is supposed to last longer, a zip disk or a cdr disk?

[erwin1978]

Which is supposed to last longer, a zip disk or a cdr disk? I can't decide whether to sell my zip drive or not. I do like the fact that I can save stuff to my zip disk instantly like a floppy disk.

 

[Scootin159]

a CD-R disk will outlast the technology (at least 10 years), I'd be nervous trusting anything important to just a zip disk.

 

[BlueApple]

CD. Both in storage and in how long it will be around as a technology.

 

[Scootin159]

<< CD. Both in storage and in how long it will be around as a technology. >>



yeah, now that you mention it, don't you think it's fair to say that Zip drives are slowly fading out? Granted their is still a market for them, it is shrinking quickly.

 

[OJ]

Universities will keep the Zip disks going, they won't put burners in their computers and the files are too large for floppies.

 

[Scootin159]

<< Universities will keep the Zip disks going, they won't put burners in their computers and the files are too large for floppies. >>



My university just gave everyone a 200MB network drive. Much more convienient & similar cost-wise.

 

[eplebnista]

Here is a link to a CD-R Info page. The CD-R will last longer as mentioned above.

hth,
eplebnista

 

[erwin1978]

So how long will the data on my zip disk last if I don't touch it? I've come across floppies that lose their format within a few minutes after formatting. I just bought a new Maxtor harddrive a couple of days ago and the installation disk was unreadable and needed to be formatted.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

<<

<< Universities will keep the Zip disks going, they won't put burners in their computers and the files are too large for floppies. >>



My university just gave everyone a 200MB network drive. Much more convienient & similar cost-wise. >>


nice

 

[RanDum72]

Another option that will further hasten the demise of the Zip drive is those tiny Microdrives that is the size of a key chain and plugs into the USB port. They have sizes up to 1gig (very expensive though) but 64mb and 128mb prices seem reasonable.

 

[Bovinicus]

Just keep your media in an area in which the dust is low and the temparature stays within a reasonable range. Also, keep it out of direct sunlight. As long as you take care of the media both forms will do the job just fine. However, I don't like zip drives. They are too small and slow. Plus, you can't make audio CDs with a zip drive. =)

 

[chansen]

I've found Zip drives to be the most error-prone storage alternatives I've tried. Granted, I never had a SyQuest drive or one of those Castlewood drives...

 

[Bovinicus]

Oh yes, and the quality of the CD-R media does come into play. Good quality CD-R media will last a good deal longer than cheapo brand X.

 

[astroview]

There are mechanical parts in zip, that tends to be less reliable...

CD will definately last longer, in the short term it might not matter but if we're taking several+ years I'd go with CDs.

 

[erwin1978]

I was merely asking about the lifetime of my zip disks, which I bought 4 years ago. I'm not concerned about the future zip drives as a whole.

 

[Ryan]

CDR by far. Yey, that's rhymes!

 

[AluminumStudios]

Optical usually long outlasts magnetic storage.

You said you like being able to use your zip like a floppy. Have you ever used DirectCD or Ahead's InCD packet writing software? It lets you read/write, drag/drop at will with your CD-R just like a disk. If you are using a CD-R disks, it's space keeps disappearing as you use it, but if you use an RW disk, then you can use it just like a zip. It works well and that functionality is even built into Windows XP as I understand it.