First Impressions - Sparq 1.0 Gb removable disk
I purchased the External Parallel Port Sparq 1.0 Gigabyte drive at Egghead Software. I paid $199 for this retail pacakge.
The first thing I noticed is that the retail packaging is reasonably attractive; however, the picture on the front of the box shows a couple enjoying their SparQ drive with a PowerMacintosh. The SparQ currently does not support Mac's (no SCSI, and no drivers), so there's a definite gaffe here on SyQuest's part.
I opened the box and emptied out the contents. The box contained:
* External SparQ drive
* SparQ Starter Cartridge with "$199 Value" collection of software
* World-universal power -supply brick and 120V US power cable
* A fold-out poster-sized "Setting Up Your SparQ 1.0 Parallel Port Drive" instructions sheet (with easy 9-step instructions on front, troubleshooting detail on back)
* A 3.5" disk with the SyQuest Parallel Port software
* Parallel-port drive hookup cable (with a prominent "Do not use with SCSI" label attached)
* SyQuest "User's Guide" which is nothing more than an 8-page marketing booklet (no useful information)
* SyQuest accessories leaflet for ordering additional parts and supplies
* A photo-copied "Frequently Asked Questions" sheet
* A photo-copied "Technical Assistance" sheet
* Product registration card
* An entry form for the design-a-personal-cartridge-cover contest
* A registration for heat.net (the software is included in the "SparQ starter pack)
The SparQ drive looks just like the SyJet drive. In fact, I think it would be too easy to confuse the two if not for the color difference (the SparQ is solid black, the SyJet is more greyish). The drive itself is fairly light, but the sum total of the drive, power brick, and cables weigh a little more than I would like for traveling. Finally, the 3-feet-long parallel cable seemed a bit short (about 4.5 feet would be perfect).
I installed the drive according to the 9-step instructions, and the installation worked as advertised. The installation software is a Wizard-style program which makes product installation easy even for a novice. (My mother can do this!) The SparQ drive is ready to use after running the wizard. No rebooting is necessary. (I have not tried the installation on NT or Windows 3.1, nor have I used the "Visit" program).
The SparQ starter disk contains SparQ utilities and a number of freebie software: SegaSoft Heat.Net Internet Game Network, SpryNet subscription, Serif DrawPlus 3.0 SE, NetResults WebVCR, McAfee WebScan, and NovaStor NovaDisk SE. While I had no use for most of them, I was very pleased with Serif DrawPlus. I think the program alone is worth about $50 alone. NovaDisk SE is a backup software which I believe is also very useful. Since I already have my own backup system, I gave NovaDisk only a cursory examination. It looks good enough for the average home user. (SyQuest also bundles their own backup/restore utility which you start from the SyQuest Utility program.)
The SparQ cartridge comes in a vinyl case designed to cushion its contents. (Unprotected, the cartrdige probably would not fare well against being dropped onto a concrete floor) The cartridge itself is about the size of a 3.5" disk, and about three times as thick. On the included Starter SparQ Cartridge, the utilities and sample software take up 228 MB of the cartridge's 956 MB (1,002,995,712 byte) capacity. (The storage media industry refers to a gigabyte as 10^9 bytes or 1,000,000,000 bytes. The computer industry refers to a gigabyte as 2^30 bytes or 1,073,741,824 bytes. I use the computer industry measure.)
The drive is simple enough to use. You pull the door open with one hand while you push fully the SparQ cartridge into the drive. After a second, the drive spins up. The drive is very quiet when it is idling, and is no louder than the low-cost IDE drives found in many home PC's when accessing data. There were four (out of maybe about 30 times that I've used the drive) when the drive made a "buzzy" sound. The first time it did this, the buzz went away as soon as I touched the drive. The other times, I ejected and reinserted the cartridge. (It appears the noise happens when you don't push the cartridge in fully.)
To eject the disk, you push the eject button and wait five seconds. The only problem: the eject button doesn't work when you've already shut down your PC - you can either restart your PC, or turn the drive off and pop the disk out after waiting 45 seconds. (I would suggest restarting the PC.)
The drive performance is pretty good for a parallel-port solution. On my Pentium 133 machine running Windows 95, I achieved a 700 Kbyte/sec transfer rate when copying a 13 MB file (about the speed of a 4X CD-ROM drive). This is fast enough for the typical home user. Professionals who use the drive more heavily should opt for the internal EIDE version. SyQuest claims 1.25 MB/sec for the parallel port (2.0 MB burst). The drive itself is rated for 3.7 MB/sec to 6.9 MB/sec, and has a 16.6 MB/sec burst rate for the EIDE version.
The printer pass-through capability of the SparQ drive works well with the HP DeskJet on my system. I was able to simulataneously (i) install software from the SparQ, (ii) browse the internet, and (iii) print a document, all without a glitch or any apparent slow-down.
This drive is going to my mother for her business use. She is an exports buyer and travels often to China and other east-Asian nations. She will be using the drive to store images of merchandise. This will be a good test of the SparQ's (i) idiot-proofing, (ii) ruggedness and usability for traveling, and (iii) performance.
Would I buy another SparQ drive? Yes. I would rather get the internal EIDE drive because I am willing to open up my PC. Moreover, I wish they sold an internal SCSI version.
SparQ 1.0 Specs (from the retail box)
Unique Features
* SparQ Starter Kit (includes valuable bonus software)
* Vertical and Horizontal Operation Saves Desk Space
* Word Power Supply (external drive)
* Power Button (external drive)
* Simple Eject Button
Specifications
* Design: Hard drive technology
* Capacity: 1.0 GB,
* Average seek time: 12 ms
* Minimum data transfer Rate: 3.7 MB/sec
* Maximum data transfer rate: 6.9 MB/sec
* Parallel port transfer rate: 1.25 MB/sec
* Parallel port burst rate: 2.0 MB/sec
* EIDE Burst rate: 16.6 MB/sec
* Drive weight (external): 24 ounces
* Cartridge weight: 3 ounces
* Advanced buffer cache: 512 KB.
System Requirements
* Personal Computers: 486 or Pentium Class systems
Compatibility
* SparQ reads, writes and formats only SparQ 1.0GB cartridges
Compatible Operating System
* Windows 3.1 or higher, Windows 95, Windows NT 3.51 or higher.
Warranty
* Cartridge have a 5 year warranty and drives have a one year warranty. |
