I do graphic design and find myself with old jobs stored on obsolete media.
Occasionally I need to copy from one of these old jobs in my current work.
At first I begin copying my entire library of old media jobs onto new media
as a matter of standard procedure. But that didn't last long. Then (and this
were I am currently at) I have an old computer that has a 5.25" floppy and
another machine that has a Jaz drive. I never use these machines unless I
need to access old media. The days of the 3.5 floppy and the Zip drive are
now numbered. If I follow this procedure, I'll have another machine just
sitting around for Zip media. I know, for instance, that there are
standalone zip drives. Is it possible to get some sort of housing that will
hold a half dozen drives then mount all these old drives in one enclosure --
just the drives not another computer -- and somehow connect them to my new
latest, greatest computer. Then when I upgrade my current computer, the
ancient drive array wouldn't have to change save for maybe adding a DVD
drive to it when it's inevitably replaced by something else.

If the drives are all SCSI you can use a SCSI enclosure.
SCSI floppy drives are available but are rare, SCSI Jaz and Zip should be easier to find.


Alan Bell wrote:
>
> I do graphic design and find myself with old jobs stored on obsolete media.
> Occasionally I need to copy from one of these old jobs in my current work.
> At first I begin copying my entire library of old media jobs onto new media
> as a matter of standard procedure. But that didn't last long. Then (and this
> were I am currently at) I have an old computer that has a 5.25" floppy and
> another machine that has a Jaz drive. I never use these machines unless I
> need to access old media. The days of the 3.5 floppy and the drive are
> now numbered. If I follow this procedure, I'll have another machine just
> sitting around for Zip media. I know, for instance, that there are
> standalone zip drives. Is it possible to get some sort of housing that will
> hold a half dozen drives then mount all these old drives in one enclosure --
> just the drives not another computer -- and somehow connect them to my new
> latest, greatest computer. Then when I upgrade my current computer, the
> ancient drive array wouldn't have to change save for maybe adding a DVD
> drive to it when it's inevitably replaced by something else.

--
Mike Walsh
West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.

On Mon, 01 Sep 2003 17:41:06 GMT, "Alan Bell" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>I do graphic design and find myself with old jobs stored on obsolete media.
>Occasionally I need to copy from one of these old jobs in my current work.
>At first I begin copying my entire library of old media jobs onto new media
>as a matter of standard procedure. But that didn't last long. Then (and this
>were I am currently at) I have an old computer that has a 5.25" floppy and
>another machine that has a Jaz drive. I never use these machines unless I
>need to access old media. The days of the 3.5 floppy and the Zip drive are
>now numbered. If I follow this procedure, I'll have another machine just
>sitting around for Zip media. I know, for instance, that there are
>standalone zip drives. Is it possible to get some sort of housing that will
>hold a half dozen drives then mount all these old drives in one enclosure --
>just the drives not another computer -- and somehow connect them to my new
>latest, greatest computer. Then when I upgrade my current computer, the
>ancient drive array wouldn't have to change save for maybe adding a DVD
>drive to it when it's inevitably replaced by something else.
>

If the drives use varying interfaces, but not SCSI, you essentially
need a computer in the housing anyway, so the goal might be a
"housing" that's just a computer case with maximum potential for
stuffing drives into it.

On the other hand, I would instead recommend just copying off all this
data now, to a hard drive, then archiving it appropriately on CDR or
DVD.


Dave

On Mon, 01 Sep 2003 19:04:03 GMT, kony <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On the other hand, I would instead recommend just copying off all this
>data now, to a hard drive, then archiving it appropriately on CDR or
>DVD.

IMHO have to be excelent quality ones & properly archived; I read
somewhere on the net recently testing CDRs that after 2y mostly were
not readable anymore (but should be at least for 10y like
manufacturers say...) ... :-(

-- Regards, SPAJKY
& visit - http://www.spajky.iscyber.com
Celly-III OC-ed,"Tualatin on BX-Slot1-MoBo!"
E-mail AntiSpam: remove ##

On Tue, 02 Sep 2003 15:33:49 +0200, Spajky <Spajky##@volja.net> wrote:

>On Mon, 01 Sep 2003 19:04:03 GMT, kony <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>On the other hand, I would instead recommend just copying off all this
>>data now, to a hard drive, then archiving it appropriately on CDR or
>>DVD.
>
>IMHO have to be excelent quality ones & properly archived; I read
>somewhere on the net recently testing CDRs that after 2y mostly were
>not readable anymore (but should be at least for 10y like
>manufacturers say...) ... :-(

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/32593.html

-- Regards, SPAJKY
& visit - http://www.spajky.iscyber.com
Celly-III OC-ed,"Tualatin on BX-Slot1-MoBo!"
E-mail AntiSpam: remove ##

Quality is very spotty. I have some Imation 16x CDs that the backing peeled off after a few months, making them useless. The old Imation 4x CDs still can be read in any drive.

Spajky wrote:
>
> On Mon, 01 Sep 2003 19:04:03 GMT, kony <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >On the other hand, I would instead recommend just copying off all this
> >data now, to a hard drive, then archiving it appropriately on CDR or
> >DVD.
>
> IMHO have to be excelent quality ones & properly archived; I read
> somewhere on the net recently testing CDRs that after 2y mostly were
> not readable anymore (but should be at least for 10y like
> manufacturers say...) ... :-(
>
> -- Regards, SPAJKY
> & visit - http://www.spajky.iscyber.com
> Celly-III OC-ed,"Tualatin on BX-Slot1-MoBo!"
> E-mail AntiSpam: remove ##

--
Mike Walsh
West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.