RE: Zip Heads Make Contact with Media Surface?
Allen,
I'm couldn't find any documentation online that says definitively which way it works. I had thought that it didn't make direct contact, but the following links leave a little doubt in my mind:
rummelplatz.uni-mannheim.de
6. Does the Zip drive use Bernoulli technology?
No, not at all. The Zip drive is a sort of hybrid of modern drive assembly techniques and established "Winchester"-type drive mechanisms; Zip shares more common technology with typical hard drives and floppy drives than it does with anything else. The Bernoulli Effect, and the technology that Iomega applies to it, is not to be found in this drive.
mindspring.com
HOW IT WORKS -- Zip drives use floppy-style flexible media and hard
drive-style magnetic read-write heads. The Zip is not based on
Iomega's Bernoulli technology.
From their Patent# 5,689,393 on the Zip disk:
The cassette shell is provided with an opening for insertion of a magnetic head, through which the magnetic had for magnetically recording and reproducing signals is to be inserted from the exterior such that the magnetic head can be brought into contact with the surfaces of the magnetic disk or can be brought to positions close to the surfaces of the magnetic disk.
pacificserv.com
8. The Zip is more reliable than the LS120: According to HP's white paper on the zip, "Conversely, floptical technologies, such as LS-120, incorporate both magnetic and optical technologies which make the drives complicated and slower. Also, similar to a standard floppy drive, the read/write magnetic heads are in contact with the media, leading to a higher risk of media damage and errors."
- Michael Coley
- wwol.com |
