>>They said CD players were too delicate, They said home use video cameras were too delicate,<<
But these devices indeed are delicate, and they do cause errors in the field. However, since the data from a CD player is oversampled many times, a lot of read errors are corrected, and those that do pass thru are often not noticeable to the human ear. Also, the CD format is read by laser, so the media is left undamaged by the moving lens which never comes close to being in contact with the CD.
Videocameras suffer from dropout and flutter in field use. But, they are a tape format, and the transport mechanism is much more bulky and solid than a disc drive. As a result it is generally more stable than a flimsy read write head srubbing directly across a delicate magnetic disc.
Since errors from CD players and videocameras are often not noticeable to human senses, they are perceived as error-free. But the mistakes are still there. And a computer device such Vapor! will cause file corruption and loss of data with just ONE error! One little shake while the write head is busy, and one little shimmy causing a scratched disc is all it will take to ruin the whole disc, and potentially the read/write head itself.
Also, based on Usenet group sampling, the "Click of Death" seems to be inherent in magnetic removable drive design (Zip, Jaz, SparQ,etc.). Is Vapor! any different? No. |
