Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Non-Tech : Any info about Iomega (IOM)? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Senthil Sankarappan who wrote (48090)	2/17/1998 10:09:00 PM
From: Kashish King	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 58324

Senthil, this is reliability is clearly a problem but anytime you mention it on this thread you get ridiculed and belittled and a large helping of testimonials from satisfied customers. I thought it was such a glaring problem that I never thought twice about brining it up. Apparently I was to believe that the simple fact that I have never met anybody who hasn't had a problem with these devices was a statistical coincidence.

To: Senthil Sankarappan who wrote (48090)	2/17/1998 10:43:00 PM
From: Fred Fahmy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

Senthil, I have been using ZIP disks on a daily basis for almost 2 years on three different drives (internal notebook, external SCSI, and internal SCSI). I have yet to have a single failure. In addition, we use ZIP's at work and I use ZIP to exchange data with friends and family members. I haven't heard of a single report from any co-workers, friends, or family members of the "click death" syndrome or any other failure or data loss. Keep in mind that even if there is a defect rate of just 1 in a thousand, that still leaves 12,000 customers upset since there are 12,000,000 of these drives installed. The fact that an internet site has been established for anyone who has received a defective drive to come and grieve does have the affect of exaggerating any "problem". If this problem was serious or widespread, I don't think Iomega would have sold 12,000,000 drives and ZIP would not have become one of the most popular consumer electronic devices of all time. In addition, OEM's like Dell, Gateway, IBM, Micron, HP, NEC, Sony, Packard Bell, etc., etc. don't put components in their systems without extensive testing and qualification. None (not one) of these major players have stopped carrying ZIP because of this "problem". That should tell you a lot about the relative magnitude of the problem. Do you think these companies would continue to offer ZIP if they thought there was a reliability problem?? All drives, video cards, monitors, etc. etc. have failures. Any failures in ZIP drives are magnified by the popularity of the drive, the media attention, and the shear number of installed units. When I use to use 3.5" diskettes I did experience failures from time to time. My experience has been that ZIP is a highly reliable media, especially compared to the old 3.5" standard. Finally, there have been literally dozens of reviews on ZIP since they were first announced. Many of these reviews considered ZIP best of bread and ZIP won numerous awards. If a major underlying problem with these drives existed, it should have turned up during some of these reviews and tests. Instead, it has won almost universal praise. Good luck, FF

To: Senthil Sankarappan who wrote (48090)	2/17/1998 11:04:00 PM
From: Reseller	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 58324

My reply sent to Jim Louderback I am concerned that your editorial about the click of death is doing a disservice to the community by spreading fear about Zip drives. Being as you are recommending that people not use these drives for backup purposes perhaps you could substantiate this recommendation with actual numbers of what percentage of the over 12 million drives sold are defective and how does that compare with other media ? A balanced report would have aligned Zip failure rates with other medium. I have owned tape drives hard drives and floppy drives that have all failed. Report as you will but you should be aware of the credibility that you are losing. I've sold computer equipment for over 12 years and find your analyses somewhat lacking to the point of being shameful. Reseller

To: Senthil Sankarappan who wrote (48090)	2/17/1998 11:05:00 PM
From: Naggrachi	Respond to of 58324

RE: Click of Death problem Also keep in mind that your dealing with an electronic product, no matter how rugged the unit is supposed to be, delicate care is a must in order to prolong the life of the product. From what I've been reading, many people drop their drive or tossed around like a rag doll. Sooner or later one has to pay the price. Like I said, decicate care for the drive would go along way, the kind of care the Rod "don't call me El" McPherson never recieved for him to rear his ugly head on this thread. Zead