Path: kernighan.cs.umass.edu!barrett From: jerry@khan.arlut.utexas.edu (Jerry Heyman) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Iomega Jaz Drive Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Date: 25 Apr 1996 15:38:57 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 275 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <4lo6ah$rp3@kernighan.cs.umass.edu> Reply-To: jerry@khan.arlut.utexas.edu (Jerry Heyman) NNTP-Posting-Host: knots.cs.umass.edu Keywords: hardware, SCSI, storage, removable media, commercial X-Review-Number: Volume 1996 Number 11 Originator: barrett@knots.cs.umass.edu PRODUCT NAME Iomega Jaz drive BRIEF DESCRIPTION 1 gigabyte removable storage SCSI disk system. Available in both internal and external models. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION US Information - Name: Iomega Corporation Address: 1821 West Iomega Way Roy, UT 84067 USA Telephone: 1-800-456-5522 (Customer Service) 1-800-697-8833 (Sales) 1-801-629-7629 (Technical Support) FAX: 1-801-778-5763 (Automated FAX Help) European Information - Name: Iomega Europe GmbH (European Headquarters) Address: Botzinger Strasse 48 79111 Freiburg Germany Iomega Ireland (European Customer Support) Fingal House Dublin Road, SWORDS Co Dublin, Ireland Telephone: ++353-1-8075-000 (Customer Service) ++49 (0) 761-45040 (Headquarters) ++353-1-8075-170 (Customer & Technical Support) FAX: ++353-1-8075-075 E-mail: Support via America Online and Microsoft Network Via the WWW at http://www.iomega.com LIST PRICE $499 (US) for the internal version $599 (US) for the external version Both come with one disk when purchased. Additional disks have a suggested retail price of: $129 (US) for one 1G disk (~$100 per disk for package of 3) $69 (US) for one 540MB disk (~$60 per disk for a package of 5) SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE A SCSI controller and cbale. SOFTWARE None. COPY PROTECTION None. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 3000/16, 2MB Chip / 8MB Fast (4MB in a DKB 3128) 1 internal 880K floppy 1 external 880K floppy / 1 external HD 1.76MB AIR drive Quantum 52MB internal hard drive MultiFace III Card (2 serial / 1 parallel) A2410 Graphics Card (ULowell Card) US Logic 15" SVGA monitor in a PC tower (connected via the SCSI 25-pin port): 105 MB Rodime internal hard drive 4x Panasonic CD-ROM drive TEAC 600MB MT-2ST/F50B tape drive AmigaDOS 3.1 MagicWorkbench 2.0 Executive 1.3 AsimWare's AmiCDFS 3.5 ShapeShifter 3.4 INSTALLATION This is a SCSI device that fits into a 3.5" slot on the external PC Tower that I have. Fit in perfectly, and using the screws that Iomega supplied, the Jaz was installed in a matter of moments. REVIEW As mentioned above the installation was almost trivial in that I just opened the tower, put the Jaz in the 3.5" slot, and then attached the 50-pin ribbon cable and the power plug - at this point installation was complete. I wound up having to undo the installation, because I didn't know what SCSI id the Jaz was set to and whether or not there would be any conflicts. The factory setting is ID 4, and in my case that was not a conflict. Once installed, I rebooted the Amiga and attempted to run HDToolBox on the drive. Note that when HDToolBox goes out and queries the SCSI bus, the Jaz actually takes between 10 and 15 minutes to complete. Posts on USENET comp.sys.amiga.hardware seem to imply that the Jaz device does a thorough check of all bad blocks each time you run HDToolBox. Once HDToolBox completed, I was able to add the Jaz without any problems. The drive originally comes configured in two (2) 500MB partitions. Not thinking ahead when I did the original install, I deleted one of the 500MB partitions and replaced it with a 100MB partition, but did not change the second partition. When I rebooted, AmigaDOS complained about not having any mount information for that second partition. I then started up HDToolBox again (and waited again the 10-15 minutes), and deleted the second partition. I then created 4 100MB partitions, but did not create them all contiguously. The first 3 partitions are contiguous, but I then skipped 100MB on the drive and then did the last partition. This partition scheme does not appear to be optimal, as initial access to that last partition seem slower than the other accesses. Formatting the different partitions was fast - no more than 2 minutes for each 100MB partition. I then copied the four partitions from my 105MB Rodime to the partitions on the Jaz and freed up the Rodime for ShapeShifter usage. DOCUMENTATION Jaz is shipped in a padded box with four (4) distinct documents. Document #1 is the Installation Guide is a quad folded page with the 17 steps that Iomega believes are necessary to install the Jaz. There are pictures and commentary for each step. If you've previously installed SCSI devices, a quick scan should be enough to understand how to install. Document #2 is a one page sheet entitled "Important Information" which stresses that you only use their screws when installing the Jaz drive, and with a a big caution that states: "Do not over-tighten the mounting screws or use screws other than those included with the Jaz drive. Over-tightening the screws or using screws that are too long could damage your Jaz drive." Document #3 the User's Guide. It is also a quad folded page. It contains hardware specifications of the drive, and also the SCSI ID jumper settings. It also talks about troubleshooting and the fact that the drive sleep is settable via the Jaz Tools diskette shipped with the product - unfortunately, those tools are only for Windows/Mac. Document #4 is entitled "Jaz tips" and contains a list of common sense things not to do with the Jaz drive. Tips include: 'Never put anything except Jaz disks into the Jaz drive as this could damage your drive' LIKES Quick to install, and get up and running. Having all the additional disk space has allowed me to install things that I have wanted to put on my hard disk but didn't have the room. The ability to change out the 1 Gig disks is why I purchased the drive in the first place - this will allow me to run AmigaDOS, NetBSD, and possibly Linux without sacrificing disk space - or purchasing another hard drive to do so. Right now those are only plans, I haven't actually done so. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS As with Iomega's ZIP drive, software is included with the drive - but only for Mac and Windows. While this isn't a problem because of HDToolBox, it would be nice if (and when) the Amiga becomes a viable alternative platform that manufacturers take it into consideration. The Jaz has a hardware spindown after 30 minutes of inactivity. It can be altered via a supplied program, but this program only works in a Windows or Mac environment. Maybe Oregon Research (maker of Jaz Tools for Amiga) will be able to come up with something for the Jaz drive. The spindown can lead to problems when you try to access partitions after the spindown - some just aren't found. The suggested work around is to get a hold of SCSIMounter from Aminet (disk/misc), and unmount then remount the partition. There are no terminating resisters in the device. This means that the Jaz should be placed somewhere in the middle of an existing chain of SCSI devices. Iomega does include a 50pin ribbon cable that is terminated if you wish to put the Jaz at the end of a SCSI chain. I installed mine in the middle of the chain and have had absolutely no problems. Make sure to copy the serial number down off of the drive before installing it. The registration form requires it - and the only place that you'll find it is on the drive itself. This lead to yet another removal and installation of the Jaz. This to me is something that the manufacturer (Iomega) could easily get around by making a peelable label - or by stamping the warranty card with. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS None that I know of at this time. SyQuest (makers of the EZ135) has shown what they call the SyJet (a 1.3G removable) at several trade shows, but has not announced a shipping date. Pictures of both the Jaz and the SyJet can be found in issue #10 of Amiga Format (US Edition). BUGS None that I am aware of. VENDOR SUPPORT None. I own some shares in Iomega, so you will have to determine if this clouds my judgement. WARRANTY The Jaz drive itself has a warranty period for 1 year; Jaz media limited lifetime, for as long as Purchaser owns it. CONCLUSIONS The drive is everything that I have waited for - and have been waiting since I first heard about it last September (9/95). I have been pleasantly surprised at the ease in which I was able to make use of it on the Amiga, but had also felt that there would be few problems as it is a SCSI device. A rating would be at least 4 on a 5 scale. The access time that I experience isn't quite what I had been led to believe - meaning that the first time that you access a partition, it seems to take a bit longer than when I had the same partition installed on the Rodime. This perceived lack of speed may be caused by my enlargement of the partition by 4x (from 25MB to 100MB). The drive is a wonder in engineering. The actual drive mechanism is the size of a 3.5" internal floppy drive, the drive itself can be held in the palm of your hand. A form fitted package is included for transferring the drive from machine to machine as not to shake or drop the media. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1996 Jerrold Heyman. All rights reserved. This review is freely distributable as long as it is not altered in any way. --- Accepted and posted by Daniel Barrett, comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews Web site: ftp://math.uh.edu/pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews/index.html