Doug Reilly's Weblog

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Will I buy from Iomega if they have the perfect product?

Probably not.  Scott blogs about a cool new Iomega product that I really need (a 35 Meg cartridge drive with a USB connection).  This is a product I need and want, and I have a history of dealing with Iomega that goes back to the original Bernoulli Box.  I actually had a couple, including the then cool Dual Bernoulli, so that I could copy cartridges.

Unfortunately, my last dealing with Iomega ended in my getting the well known “click of death” problem, that in the end killed not one but 2 Zip drives, and it happened apparently days after the deadline Iomega decided on to no longer offer any assistance on the subject.  I had loved the Zip drive, I had a stock of perhaps 30 blank disks sitting around as well as dozens of disks with stuff I really would have liked to get to, but absent buying a new drive and hoping that I had not somehow fouled one of them by placing it in the “Click of Death” drive before I noticed the problem, I sucked it up and gave up on Iomega.

So, I guess I will just continue backing up to CD/DVD for now... 

 

Comments

Jason Nadal said:

Actually, the click-of-death problem you had mentioned resulted in a class-action lawsuit settlement. I only got about $12 out of it (from what I remember), but at least they acknowledged the problem.
# May 26, 2004 8:49 AM

Doug Reilly said:

Well, my Click of Death came JUST after that settlement was closed. I got nothing, except an offer to send the devices in and pay for a replacement (as I recall, their price for a repair was perhaps a little higher than the then current retail).

I am not bitter<g>. OK, maybe a little...
# May 26, 2004 9:27 AM

G. Andrew Duthie said:

That reminds me...I've got a stack of ZIP drives I should probably copy to some other medium before I move (just bought a new house further out in the 'burbs) and pitch the whole lot. No sense in moving more obsolete technology than absolutely necessary. Of course, if I'm really gonna do it, I should copy the contents of the hundreds of floppys I still have, too. Wouldn't that be a joy?

# May 28, 2004 3:04 PM

Doug Reilly said:

You know, the interesting part is that I had dozens fo ZIP disks of things I thought I needed, and yet when I got rid of the broken Zip drives, I never actually discovered anything that I needed so badly that I actually sought out another Zip drive...

Good luck with the house!
# May 28, 2004 9:10 PM

Don M said:

What was the product. I can't find it on IOMEGA's Site.
# June 2, 2004 8:20 AM

Doug Clark said:

>What was the product. I can't find it on >IOMEGA's Site.
And you probably won't. The latest post on the Unofficial Click (of) Death Site was from March '04. That guy said the Iomega employee he talked to said the matter was settled "long ago."
Anyway, it was a problem with Zip drives. For some good reading on it, with links to just about every other site/source about it, see the Gibson Research site, grc.com. Steve Gibson has developed a program or two that might help recover any data that you need badly enough to fuss with it.

# June 28, 2004 4:24 PM
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