Sparkling SparQ Outdistances the Zip

With the introduction of its SparQ 1.0GB removable cartridge drive, SyQuest has made it cheaper than ever to back up lots of data. Though the $199 unit may not be the least expensive backup drive on the market, its 1GB cartridges cost $39 each--or just about 4 cents for each megabyte. In sharp contrast, the 100MB disks used by the $150 Iomega Zip drive cost users roughly 13 cents per megabyte. If you have huge amounts of data to back up, you might prefer to work with a faster removable mass storage device such as SyQuest's $299 SyJet. But for creating smaller-volume personal backups, the SparQ is the best bargain around.

That's not to say it's perfect. When I attached an external model to the parallel port of my notebook PC (an internal EIDE model is available for the same $199 street price), I immediately ran into a series of minor installation glitches. The first couple of times I inserted the SparQ cartridge, it didn't seat properly in the drive. There isn't any autoload mechanism, and you have to press down on the cartridge until it "snaps" into place. Unfortunately, you can't actually hear or feel this happening; a simple visual or audio cue would have been nice.

Then, while I was running the SparQ's installation software, my PC froze. It took me a while to troubleshoot the problem, but I finally figured out that the installation software conflicted with my system's antivirus utility. After I disabled the virus scanner, the remainder of the setup went smoothly. However, I had to come up with that fix on my own, with no help from the package's documentation. It would have saved me time if SyQuest had recommended disabling the antivirus software during installation--a suggestion I've seen in several other installation wizards.

Once my cartridge drive was up and running, I found the software utilities sparse but useful (though I could have done without all the promotional photographs of SyQuest headquarters). I was also very favorably impressed at how swiftly the SparQ drive performed: The unit took slightly more than 2 minutes to back up 83MB of data from my Pentium-133. On the other hand, a portable Iomega Zip drive (also attached via parallel port) took more than 10 minutes to save the same amount of data from a Pentium-166 desktop PC (see " A Gig in Your Pocket," March 1998). The SparQ has a one-year warranty, and the cartridges are warranted for five years.

One piece of practical advice for prospective SparQ users: SyQuest generously throws in a load of extras with the SparQ drive--a 1GB starter cartridge, along with a bunch of software, including Serif's DrawPlus 3.0 graphics package. Unfortunately, all of that bundled software, including the installation files for the drive itself, is situated on the starter disk. So if you don't want to lose any original software you might need later, make sure that you pick up a second cartridge to use for performing your actual backups.

Still, that small glitch and the tricky setup don't negate the SparQ's winning combination of high-speed performance and low-cost media.

SUMMARY

SparQ 1.0GB PRO: Fast backup, remarkably low cost per megabyte. CON: Setup mishaps, marginally useful starter cartridge. VALUE: Cheapest way to store lots of data on a removable disk. $199 for either external or internal EIDE) SyQuest Technology 800/245-2278 www.syquest.com