[PSU guy]

I recently got a 12” powerbook, I just couldn’t wait any longer, since my school starts at the end of this month. However, this machine is superb, it does everything that my G4 tower and my PC does, only a lot faster and smoother. Anyway, I will have 2 machines up at school with me, and I need something that would transfer the files back and forth from the PC to the PB. I will also be studying abroad in Japan, so I need something that’s universal as well. I have narrowed my choices down to a zip drive or a floppy drive, I can’t make up my mind on which one I would need. Any suggestions or comments?

p.s. Does the Japanese uses the same wall outlets as we(Americans) do? or do I need a special adapter?

[chabig]

At school, you ought to be able to use the network.

While traveling, the Zip will be better simply because floppy disks have so little capacity as to be nearly useless.

However, if you just want to transfer files, a USB keychain drive is probably your best bet. 128MB drives were $20 this past weekend at Office Depot.

Chris

[NYCFarmboy]

get a dvd burner and burn your files on a cd or dvd... that way you will always have a hard copy back up of your important files. which is very immportant for notebooks due to high theft rates etc.

zips are going the way of the dodo bird.

Also.. flash usb drives are a great alternative to zip disks as well. They are about the size of cigarette lighters and come up to 1 gig in size now... I have a 128 gig flash drive that was like 50 bucks. its great to transfer files back & forth between my various macs.

But..seriously consider burning your important stuff on cd's/dvds so you'll have a back up.

and forget about zip disks..they are going the way of floppy disks.

[The Placid Casual]

*Breaking my own posting hiatus...*

I just had to buy a USB floppy drive as a lot of my Uni work is distributed this way (!)...

It is the most galling £50 I have ever had to spend... if you have any other choice, go for it.

[Macola]

I'd definitely recommend a flash drive--it's just a lot more convenient than Zip disks (I have both).

[kennedy]

Floppys are too small for too many things... not a solution.
I cannot stand Iomega products.

The best solutions for transfers:
Ethernet crossover cable (the only solution for really big stuff)
USB Flash Drive (tiny, 128MB, fast, cheap)

The best solutions for preservation:
CD-R... you can get disks dirt cheap and they hold 650-700MB

[GENERAL_SMILEY]

What about simply using a re-writable CD?

[X-Ray]

The combination of a flash drive and a cd/dvd burner is the way to go. I have a Zip drive, usb floppy and a flash drive - guess which 2 are packed away in the closet. An additional benefit of the flash drive is their compatability between pc's and macs. I have to transfer data files between the 2 operating systems at work and the flash drive does the trick beautifully. I just worry about the long term reliability of flash drives so that's where the burner comes in.

[kennedy]

Originally posted by GENERAL_SMILEY:
What about simply using a re-writable CD?

I have never been able to get CD-RWs to work with my Macs.
I can erase them... just never will let me write them.
I've tried numerous brands of discs trying to find some
that'll work with my Macs. I've given up.

[PSU guy]

Wow, Thank you to those who suggested an idea. I am currently using CDs to transfer some of my files, and Zip and floppys are a bit outdates. I have considered a USB flashdrive, but since majority of my transfer will probably be between a PC to a laptop, physical accessability is one of my concerns. Accessing the USB port on a laptop is easy, but on some PCs I used @ school, the USB port is on the back, which is almost impossible to get to unless you pull out the machine, while at the same time, getting weird stares from people. (I seen my friend did it). Also, majority of machines @ Penn State's computer labs are locked down to the desk. Any ideas?

[djjava]

Originally posted by kennedy:
Floppys are too small for too many things... not a solution.
I cannot stand Iomega products.

The best solutions for transfers:
Ethernet crossover cable (the only solution for really big stuff)
USB Flash Drive (tiny, 128MB, fast, cheap)

The best solutions for preservation:
CD-R... you can get disks dirt cheap and they hold 650-700MB

watch out for when and if you use the crossover cable. some users, myself included, had huge system slow down after using the crossover cable, and some users actually had to do a hard reboot to get back in working order.

[yoyoman]

yes a pen drive. smaller and can hold a lot of information. Lexmarx came out witha flash with 4 gigs.

[dialo]

or you can just cheap web hosting (you can find places with 500 MB for $100/year) and use that. It's actually really easy.

[nayr x]

I forgot who mentioned it, but the ethernet crossover cable works great for me for the really big stuff. For the littler stuff, I usually just use iChat (Instant messenger). It is quick as all hell if the two computers are on the same network. Just set up an account on each and voila! In the office I send files to and from my PB to the PCs constantly and sometimes the files transfer so incredibly fast it knocks my socks off. As for storage, CD-Rs are by far the cheapest solution. You can get a spindle of 100 from compusa for less than 10 bucks. (at least i did). I bought a USB floppy drive back when i got my yosemite G3 tower, but used it maybe twice? Floppies are laughably outdated. 1.4mb barely holds an icon of a floppy disc. And i've never had anything but trouble with zip discs, and even those are too small nowadays.

[iDaver]

Originally posted by PSU guy:
I have considered a USB flashdrive, but since majority of my transfer will probably be between a PC to a laptop, physical accessability is one of my concerns. Accessing the USB port on a laptop is easy, but on some PCs I used @ school, the USB port is on the back, which is almost impossible to get to unless you pull out the machine, while at the same time, getting weird stares from people. (I seen my friend did it). Also, majority of machines @ Penn State's computer labs are locked down to the desk. Any ideas?

Some newer PCs have a USB port on the keyboard but most don't. Most solutions to this problem will include access to a USB port unless, as suggested you use an internet host for transfers. Perhaps CDs are your best bet.

Why computer makers have typically put all of the ports on the back of the computer is beyond me. Particularly the ports you need ready access to, like USB and Firewire. Hurts my back just thinking about it. Thank goodness it's finally beginning to change.

[slider]

Many PC's such as Dell and Compaq/HP have flip up doors on the front of the machines, check for that. The other thing you could try is get a 3' USB cable, that might be easier to plug into the back of the PC then the Disk on Key or flash drive itself. I have a 128MB which I used for the same reason as you, once you start plugging into the back of those PC, you get use to feeling for them. Also, if the machines at school are running Win98, most keys need a driver, 2000 and beyond are all set and load the drivers automatically.

Good luck in school.

[PSU guy]

Once again, thank you to all readers who replied my question. Like I mentioned before, I will be abroad in Tokyo pretty soon, I am still wondering if I would have any problems (drivers, physical accessablilty, etc) using the USB device in Japan? Once again, thank you to those who responded.

[Esquare]

Originally posted by kennedy:
I have never been able to get CD-RWs to work with my Macs.
I can erase them... just never will let me write them.
I've tried numerous brands of discs trying to find some
that'll work with my Macs. I've given up.

Huh???

[dialo]

I'm just curious: why would you need to use any other computers if you have a laptop and a pc? If it's to print papers, why not just send it to a web e-mail account? You can do it for free and it will work anywhere.

[kennedy]

Originally posted by Esquare:
Huh???

Uhhh, not sure how to respond to that.
Was there something there that didn't make sense?
Or have you never had problems burning CD-RWs, and thus
can't imagine that I would?

[chabig]

Or have you never had problems burning CD-RWs, and thus can't imagine that I would?

Although I didn't write that, I can say that I've had no problems burning CD-RWs on any of my iBooks. That's a topic for another thread, but if you want to start one, I bet we can help you.

[buddy1065]

Someone gave me a floppy and wanted me to copy a photo from my mac to it. I used my USB pen drive to get the photo off the 17" easily but the stupid DELL would not let the pen drive fit into it because some idiot designed the desktop so that USB connections could only be inserted at an angle; the fancy design of the PC housing prevented insertion. I finally used a USB extention cable that came with my Kangaroo pen drive. Even though floppies are going the way of the dinosoar, like Godzilla they refuse to die, and in some cases it's the quickest way to transfer files with PC's. I bought a 240 MB SuperDisk USB drive which also accepts regular floppy drives awhile ago. I was very pleased and it worked great with my Ti but the cable connection broke inside the thing. But it's a great way to communicate with PC's. And I was thinking of getting another.

http://hardwarecentral.dealtime.com/xPF-QPS_Que

use
QPS Que! SuperDisk 240
to search the catalog at hardware central.

It's the best solution in my opinion. Not everyone has USB or ethernet and this covers all bases: floppies, 120 MB Superdisks and 240 MB Superdisks. Does not fit Zip drive cartriges though. But then Zip drives won't fit floppies either.

[romeosc]

I use 128MB Smartmedia cards & a 4 in 1 reader in PCMCIA slot. I have several cards and use them with camera as well as transfers. quick easy and very small!