For those with Zip drives, pay attention.  I personally don't keep the
cartridge in the drive spinning unless I am using it.

kelly

     February 5, 1999
   PC World Magazine

   The Click of Death Ate My Data
   by Steve Bass

   "Click." "Click-click-click. "Hear that? It's the sound of my Iomega
   Jaz drive, along with the cartridge and all its data, kicking the bit
   bucket. It's also the sound of my 14-year relationship with Iomega
   coming to an end. Because I'm angry, no, furious. Iomega could have
   warned me--and the hordes of other Jaz and Zip drive users--about the
   Click of Death before I lost valuable data.

   It's too late for me, but it's not too late for you. If you own a Zip
   or Jaz drive or are considering buying one, I have a terrific free
   utility and a few great resources for you, as well as a couple of
   suggestions for Iomega.

   Clicking for Dummies

   This story started when I told an Iomega rep that I was doing an
   article on monster-size music and video files. Iomega sent me a 1GB
   Jaz drive and a 100MB Zip drive. For three months, I tested the
   dickens out of both, transferring lots of data and clocking the
   performance. I liked the Jaz so much I ended up buying one for my
   wife's system. Heck, the Jaz drive was so convenient I started using
   it to back up critical files on the fly.

   Dummy that I was, the Click of Death issue (COD for short) didn't
   register on my radar screen. I missed the warning in Bugs and Fixes
   (see "Zip Drive Death Click Is for Real," May 1998). And I foolishly
   ignored hundreds of COD victims' messages on newsgroups like
   alt.iomega.zip.jazz.

   When the Jaz drive failed, I called my personal storage guru, drive
   expert Steve Gibson. Gibson is the creator of SpinRite, an
   indispensable utility for finding and fixing surface problems on hard
   drives.

   Gibson prayed for my Jaz drive--without success--but said Zip owners
   had more to worry about. First, the alignment in a Zip may be off,
   which can cause the drive's heads to "clip" the edge of the flexible
   floppy disk inside the Zip cartridge's plastic case. Second, Gibson
   says, the Zip drive may need lubrication, something that's not a
   problem for Jaz drives.

   Okay, bad news first. There is no cure. Once a drive begins to circle
   the drain, it needs to go back to Iomega for service. Worse, you can
   deep-six a good cartridge--and all the data on it--if you insert it
   into a faulty drive. Neat, huh?

   So Gibson wrote Trouble in Paradise, an aptly named, exquisitely
   simple utility to test the failure potential of Zip and Jaz drives.
   You'll find this free 66KB program on Gibson's Web site, along with a
   thorough explanation of the Click of Death problem and a virtual
   clearinghouse of useful tips and links.

   Et Tu, Omega?

   Officially, Iomega claims that the COD affected fewer than half of 1
   percent of all Jaz and Zip users. But with more than 20 million Zip
   and 2 million Jaz drives in the world, that's a huge number of
   problems. (For the record, I pounded the Zip drive and didn't have an
   iota of trouble.) Some good news: Iomega says it will help users
   recover their data, sometimes free, sometimes for a fee.

   Still, Iomega's behavior is a textbook example of how not to handle a
   serious technical problem. Instead of taking action at the first sign
   of trouble, it pretended there wasn't a problem. The company finally
   paid attention, but not quickly enough to avoid a class action lawsuit
   (see www.texasatty.com/iomgcod.html for details).

   Iomega could have made it easier to get answers--like by sticking a
   link to COD info on the home page instead of burying it three layers
   deep ( www.iomega.com/support/documents/2135.html ). And then
   supplying lots of details, not just one page. Responding proactively
   to messages on newsgroups. Maybe extending the warranty. Sure, normal
   clicking sounds may alarm users who don't have a COD problem. But for
   goodness sake, expect customers to be worried--and take care of them.

   Bottom line: The Jaz drive's up on the shelf--and that's where it
   stays. Because the data on the drive? It's my stuff.

   Product Information
   Zip and Jaz external drives
   [INLINE]
     Zip $110, Jaz $260 street
     Iomega
     800/697-8833
     www.iomega.com
     Product information from manufacturer

                   Find files from this article on PC World Online.
   Contributing Editor Steve Bass is a licensed marriage and family
   therapist and president of the Pasadena IBM Users Group.


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