All That Jaz


All That Jaz

The early Dubner CBG systems used 14" Winchester removable platter drives. We were all suitably amazed when the next generation systems started using dinky but durable Bernoulli boxes.

So when Iomega started selling their Zip drives for PCs, I was all over that, especially when they made one that would slide into a PowerBook bay.

I was equally excited about the Jaz system, and bought an external SCSI version from LaCie just as soon as they were available.

Unfortunately, it was not ready for Prime Time. I swapped out several drives and cartridges, but it was constantly jamming and self destructing. The enclosure, however, was really nice, and it got used to house a number of HDs over the years.

I think it's about time for all the SCSI gear to go to that great Toxic Waste Dump In The Sky.

Comments

  1. Richard BensamMay 21, 2016 at 9:10 PM

    I hear you. Just a month ago, I took four Zip drives -- internal and external models, SCSI and IDE -- I'd held onto for all these years and sent them away to live on a farm upstate. If that seems like a lot, I held onto a fifth one: an external USB model that might actually still be useable.

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  2. Drew McCarthyMay 22, 2016 at 5:49 AM

    Yeah, I'm finally tackling some much overdue boneyard winnowing, and legacy file rescuing.
    So much past tech involved bolting bits together, sometimes to keep things working, or to adapt to newer requirements, shifting standards. Things have quieted down on that front, plus things seem to do a better job of "just working." The days of sacrificing goats to tame recalcitrant SCSI chains may be over. I wonder what gets sacrificed when an enterprise router config goes awry?

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