After a long period of just keeping its head above water, once giant in removable storage Iomega decided that it is better to continue as a part of a larger company, EMC, than to die an ignominious end, as its major competitor of yesteryear, Syquest, did.

the start of the revolution against the lowly floppy

At least this way the brand will live on, the remaining employees will still have jobs, and perhaps the core of innovation that was Iomega will continue.

Although small children today don’t have a clue about the ’slightly larger than floppy’ disk, there was a time when the Zip disc was ‘the’ way to move large files easily, and not worry about compatibility. First 100 MB discs, then 250, and finally 750, these are still in use today by many (I have a few of each size drive, and several hundred discs). Many will look and say that CDs and DVDs are so much better, but for quite a while Zip discs were much easier to use, and especially carry around.

the Jaz disc was the predecessor of the REV, and really had no problems, other than cost, and the fact that it missed the USB window - had it been available with USB interface, instead of the SCSI interface that many people were wary of, it could still be around today

Then came the dreaded ‘click of death’, where a drive would fail spectacularly and take any inserted discs along for the ride to oblivion. That problem, and the class action lawsuit that followed, was the beginning of the end for the heyday of Iomega - I have no doubt that without the payouts of that suit, the guys at Iomega would have perfected even larger size discs, and made them more resistant to failure, which would have prolonged the Zip’s life by a large measure, perhaps to today.

this is where Iomega is at today - because most people don’t bother to back up data, the REV drive, and discs, are largely unknown - really a shame

Let’s hope that the people at EMC continue to let the gearheads from Iomega thrive, and perhaps we will again celebrate more than just the REV drives.

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[tags] Iomega, EMC, Syquest, Zip disc, Zip drive, Jaz drive, REV drives, buyout, removable storage [/tags]

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