Re: [Thinkpad] 770 ED: C.D. drives as alternative to Zip (previously: Zip drive...).

     Thanks to everyone who gave suggestions.

[Rob Bell:]

>I'm pretty sure that there is a ZIP drive made for the 770's Ultrabay.
>That being said, I'd also suggest turning to another type of media
>unless you already have a lot of ZIP disks.

     A while ago I purchased a Zip drive (just the normal one, not a laptop one)
and a few boxes of Zip disks, intending to use them for backing up. But (for a
variety of reasons it would be tedious and irrelevant to go into here) I never
got around to using it; and then, when the need for more hard disk space became
obvious, I started thinking it would be better to use a second hard disk for
backing up.
     Because of this, I am even considering the possibility of purchasing two
hard disks to go in the floppy disk drive. The current one has to remain my
main one for at least a longish period, because of all the stuff that is on it
now, configured for that setup, and so on. Meanwhile, because of this possible
change in plans, the Zip drive and disks are sitting there unused.

>They are only 100MB or 250MB.

     That's an awful lot compared to floppy drives, which have up to now been
the only other type of drive I've used regularly. Mine are the 250 Mb. kind; do
you think that's sufficient for something that will be used in a similar way to
how you used floppy disks?

>I'd suggest getting a CD-RW for the Ultrabay. CD-RW media is
>pretty cheap and is reusable.

     I'm not quite up with all the acronyms. That's a rewriteable drive you can
use again and again, and alter files on, just like a floppy disk, isn't it?

>CD-R media is very cheap and can be used in (virtually) any other PC.

     And that's the read-only one, isn't it? I'm quite definite about this: I
do not want to follow the practice of one or two people I know, and use
read-only ones like floppies, and just throw the old ones out when I want to
change the files and then put them on a new one.

     Also, another thing may be relevant. I am using Windows 95, and I seem to
recall that that is not compatible with C.D. rewriteable drives, although I may
be getting my facts confused. And isn't there something about the right kind of
bus, or interface, or Ultrabay, or something. Someone else mentioned U.S.B. in
connection with C.D.s, and I don't know if that is compatible with my computer
and Windows version.
     I don't remember the exact details about these compatibility issues; but I
do recall being told something along these lines when I was asking about C.D.
drives a couple of years ago. There was some reason why this drive would not be
compatible with my computer and/or operating system, and that is the reason I
decided to use Zip disks.
     I do not wish to upgrade Windows 95 at present, maybe not at all, the main
reason for this being that I believe there are a number of recent viruses around
which more recent Windows versions are vulnerable, but which Windows 95 is
immune to. I know this, because these viruses have tried to attack me, and
nothing happened. I understand the reason is that later versions have something
called a scripting host, but Windows 95 doesn't. I don't know what a scripting
host is, except that it is apparently what executes the virus; so if I don't
have it, the virus doesn't run. I don't seem to miss the scripting host, so I
don't want to acquire one by upgrading Windows.

     Another consideration is that I really don't like Windows at all, and am
considering giving Linux a try, with a view to switching almost all my computer
operations to that system. If I go through the trauma of changing operating
systems at all, I want it to be to something I like, and don't feel inclined to
merely change from one version of Windows to another.
     The only thing is that there is a music notation program I want to use in
the future which requires Windows; but in that case, I will start a clean, new
hard drive for that, and keep it separate from my other operations. I do not
want to risk messing around with my current hard disk by changing operating
systems, and risk losing files, configurations for programs, and the like.

     So whether these things have a bearing on the type of C.D. media I use, I
don't know. I've been putting off doing something about all this for years,
largely because I am so confused about everything, and cautious about doing
anything with my current configuration that could do damage to my files.
     Although my view of what I want to aim for seems to change a bit, my
current thoughts are this: use one drive (or partition) for Linux, and do as
much there as I can find Linux application programs for; use a second drive or
partition for Windows (possibly an upgraded one, when I'm ready to do that) for
anything where I have to use a Windows program; and I would like a third drive
or partition for MS-DOS 6.22, because I do use some DOS programs, and may
continue doing so (Turbo Pascal (programming language), XyWrite (a
word-processor), various games, and a few other things of that sort). The
reason for this is that I don't find all DOS program truly compatible with the
DOS box of Windows, and XyWrite, for instance, which I want to use, is not
reliable with it.

     I have to bear in mind all of this in deciding which way to go, and I can't
figure it out. It may be too much to ask for detailed answers to all this on a
mailing list; but if anyone can at least point me to an appropriate source of
information, I would be very grateful. But it seems to me that 2, maybe 3, hard
disks is a good option, with at least two of them usable simultaneously, plus
Zip disks, or maybe C.D.s of some sort (rewriteable) or an additional hard disk
for backing up things.

                         Regards,
                          Michael Edwards.

_______________________________________________
Thinkpad mailing list
Thinkpad@stderr.org
http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad
Received on Sat May 31 08:19:05 2003