Complicated Storage Concerns

[vesther]

Currently, I have:

* 1 250MB External ZIP Drive because I have several ZIP Disks
* 1 Dazzle SD CardReader because I have SD Cards
* 1 Floppy Disk Drive because it's widely called "a condition of having a PC"

Recently, I've been seeing a lot of "Jump Drives" (Hard Disk Drives that fit into your keychain, and that can be used at the frontal USB Ports at Colleges and Universities that have frontal USB 2.0 Ports on PCs) flying around thin air lately. Jump Drives are available in 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, even 1.5GB. I currently have 5 250MB Zip Disks, 5-6 100MB Zip Disks, a lot of Floppy Disks. Do you think I should "trash" the Zip Disk Drive in favor of using the Jump Drives from this point on? I still have use with the Zip Drive since they are mission critical.

Give me your thoughts about these weird "Jump-Drives" (Keychained USB 2.0 Drives).

[butch81385]

I personally love the jump drives (as you said, great at college). whether or not you feel comfortable putting your info on things so easy to lose is your decision, but i personally love them

[HeadBand]

zip drives are old and outdated and weren't even very popular before that mainly they are used for backing up large data but that has been replaced by cd burners if you plan on taking data with you a usb drive would be a good choice because most pcs have front usb now and it is way less easier to damage than a floppy or zip disk if your home pc dosent have front usb i would recomend you get something to put in a drive bay that has usb and if you dont have usb headers on your mobo a usb controller card

[nukes]

Personally I'd love to replace my CDs and ZIP with USB drives, but I can't afford it.
Its a lot faster, doesn't require anything but a USB port and a USB aware OS. You don't get much per MB though, and I'd do better buying an internal ZIP or faster CD writer. I've got a CF reader if I ever need to deal with it.
That's what you need to ask yourself: is it going to be worth your while. The large capacity USB drives are very expensive, and CDs may be the way to go as you can get 52x CDRW drives for under £50 now.

[PresterJohn]

cd burners are the most cost-effective way to move data around. the only drawback is that you need a burner on both ends if you need to copy data both ways.

usb sticks are much faster but you pay a higher price tag for the privilege...

[elmers]

USB Disks arnt "hard" disks. No moving parts just good ol' solid state logic. The way to go if youve got the money. Even if you get a small one. In xp you dont need drivers for it so its really handy for medium stuff.