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Do I need a zip drive AND a CD-re-writable?

Hi. I'm buying a laptop very soon, and want to be able to back up my data. I will definitely be buying a re-writable/recordable CD unit, but do I also need a zip drive (is a superdisk drive the same thing?)

Can I easily record data such as .doc .jpg .mpg etc onto a CD using that unit, and retrieve it/restore it as I need to (which hopefully I wont)???

Does the CD unit make the zip drive obsolete?

Is there anything I would be missing out on if I DON'T buy a zip drive??

I am NOT an expert with computers at all, so standard layman's language for answers, please.

Thanks in advance.

Microsoft

If you are going to buy a CD writer I wouldnt bother buying a zip drive, they are a waste of money, theres no point in buying both when they do the same thing,

CD'S hold more information and you can store JPG's or what every you require and they are more durable.

also with a cd you can take it to 90% computers and pop the cd to recover or view data without having to setup up drivers or software.

most computers today with windows have cd roms unless they are commercial workstations.

This will save alot of money and time.

CD is the way forward and not tape or disk.

this is my opinion which I think answers your question

hope this helps

cheers

Andy

ps cd rewriters are actually cheaper than zip drives or getting close to it.

d_hall

In the long run a CDR is much cheaper - last time I checked a 100mb Zip disk was over AUD $20. I can get 20-30 CDs or 8-10 CD-RWs for that price, each holding 600mb+.

kahlean

my bet will definately on the cdr drive. Three to two years back, zip drive might be in favour comparing to cdr drive as the cdr drive comes very expensive. But nowadys cdr are dog cheap however might be slightly higher than the zip driver. Now think about the amount of data you ca nstore using a cdr 700 MB comapring to the lastest zip disk 200 MB, not to mention about the media which has superior differnce in cost.

However they are pros and cons.

CDR pros-----
1. Easy distribution. Almost everyone with a cdrom can use the cd
2. Cheap
3. Large storage.

CDR cons
1. THe external cdr drive might be too bulky comapring to a zip drive.

Zip Drive Pro
1. Cant think aobut it. But it will be far superior comparing to floppy but not cdr

Zip Drive Cons
1. Media are expensive comaparing to CDR.

If i would have the same amount of money, i willdefinately invest in on increasing my memory or hdd capacity.

Regards

kahlean

For you info nowadays those new 700MB cdrom is easy to find.

Microsoft

it looks like every body agrees with my FIRST COMMENT THEN......

cheers
Andy

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pelejab

I have both iomega zipdrive and cd writer and concur with all the above experts comments. It is a good idea to buy a few of the CD RW disks as well as the cheaper CD R disks as you can use these (once formatted) many times and just copy/paste etc as you do with any other file using explorer, and any other software that allows you to copy files to a "browsed" directory.
cheers, Pete

anthonyf

ASKER

Thanks very much to everyone who responded, I really appreciate it. Laptop, here I come... I'm excited about getting it, I just wish I didn't know that in 6 months it will look like a very slow and very expensive laptop. Ah well, such is computing life, hey?

Thanks again!