Article from the Raleigh News & Observer from today's paper:
check the last three paragraphs....
news-observer.com
Paul Gilster: SparQ can light a fire under your computer's capability
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If you're looking to simplify your computing life, buy one of the removable storage devices now on the market. You can add anything from 100 megabytes (MB) to a full gigabyte (GB) to your machine in the form of removable disks, giving you the ability to perform fast data backups without benefit of a tape system.
These drives also are useful for swapping even the largest files from one machine and another.
Remember, our computer files are getting bigger and bigger. It takes 220 MB, for example, to install Windows 98, and the files we create with our bloated applications are only going to grow.
You used to be able to offload a few files to take home over the weekend, but you sure couldn't put any of today's graphics-intensive presentation or desktop publishing files on a standard floppy. A removable drive is the answer.
I recently installed one of SyQuest's SparQ units and, despite some problems, found it to be the best bargain in the business. A SparQ unit will give you 1 GB of storage on a single disk -- an oddly shaped, quarter-inch-thick disk, to be sure, but one that works flawlessly and at speeds close to that of a hard disk.
And a gigabyte holds tons of data. The old radio shows I download from the Internet run about 5 MB each; I can fit close to 200 on one of these disks, as opposed to 20 on a ZIP disk.
If you work out the price, you'll see why this is an attractive option that could put SyQuest over the top. If I went the analog route, I could put those 200 radio shows on audio tape for about $100, figuring two shows per tape at $1 per tape. A single SparQ cartridge can be had for $33, so my cost is cut by two-thirds. No matter what I store, the SparQ option costs less than four cents a megabyte. The system unit itself runs an affordable $199.
The hardware is a breeze to install, although problems can arise later. With the computer off (always power down when you're doing things with your machine's connections), you simply plug the SparQ into the parallel port with the supplied cable. Your printer then plugs into the SparQ's other connector.
Power on to install the necessary software. The printer will continue to work as before, but once you've run the SparQ installation, you'll have a new drive icon.
The SparQ is a good-looking unit, and at these prices, it should sell in huge numbers. My only problem came after I booted the computer up following the installation. Ironically, considering that I was evaluating the SparQ as an archival vehicle for my radio files, I discovered that I no longer had sound. I called SyQuest technical support for help.
Here's the story: A computer uses so-called "interrupts" to regulate how various components get processor time. Assign two things the same interrupt, and you're creating problems. In my case, the SyQuest drive wanted the same interrupt as the sound card, which meant that one or the other had to go. The SyQuest technician stayed on the line as I uninstalled the device and brought the sound back up.
Those who have this problem have to manually reassign the interrupt to eliminate the conflict. Technically speaking, this is no major problem, but SyQuest should make the procedure more accessible. The solution is found on a printed troubleshooting sheet that comes with the unit, but it's listed under a different category than my audio problem. The company needs a printed manual with an index that provides a quick fix.
My other bone of contention is the lack of an uninstall routine. As a reviewer, I have to install and remove devices like this on a regular basis, and I think the uninstall process should be as automated as the installation. Windows 95 let me uninstall the SyQuest utility programs easily enough, but I had to manually remove the SparQ's parallel port device drivers. Doing so was easy enough through the Windows Device Manager, and SyQuest helped me do it over the phone, but home users would appreciate a one-click solution.
As for documentation, this procedure was on page 21 of an 81-page file on the startup disk, not exactly easy to locate.
Problems like these are irritating, but the benefits of the SparQ are so palpable that it's worth the aggravation. Iomega's ZIP Plus, the second generation of its popular drives, is a widely used removable storage option, but the SparQ offers 10 times the storage for roughly the same price. Iomega also offers a 2 GB drive called the Jaz, but cartridges are $125 apiece, while the Jaz unit itself will set you back $500.
Why are Iomega's drives so popular? They're even being built into new computers by many major manufacturers. The answer is compatibility. Any new technology has to reach a threshold level of acceptance that allows people to exchange data using that format. Enough people have bought the Iomega product to make ZIP drives more or less standardized for this purpose, even if the technology behind them is now seriously outgunned by SyQuest. We'll have to see whether the SparQ can win enough people over to turn that situation around.
My advice for home users who simply want a large, removable storage option is to buy a SparQ drive. But if you routinely exchange files with other users or bring home work on disk, you should make sure that the SparQ format will work for you. A ZIP disk may hold only 100 MB, but if it's what your machines at the office use, you have little choice but to stay with the ZIP format.
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