** 2 page feature - Part 2 / 550 words **
** 1 photo, direct from author, uuencoded to follow **
** Feel free to juggle boxouts between pages to balance layout **

** Photo here **

I feel the need - the need for speed

Just how fast are todays removable devices? Sandy Thomson and Al Goold compare three popular models - with surprising results...

In this article we have steered clear of misleading benchmarks and concentrated on "real life" tests. For all the tests we used the exact same 1462 files in 50 folders comprising a total of 52.48Mb. These files were made up from folders of clipart containing files of various sizes and formats along with archived and uncompressed material.

Hardware
The reference machine was an Atari Falcon (TOS 4.04) fitted with Nemesis, running at 24MHz, and a 420Mb internal IDE drive to which all three removable devices were attached.

Software 
A reference benchmark using the built-in TOS copy routines was carried out. Subsequent tests were performed using Kobold v2.5:

** Table data **
SOURCE          DESTINATION     TIME
IDE             EZFlyer         4 min 28.5 secs

Write tests
IDE             EZFlyer         1 min 13.8 secs
IDE             ZIP             1 min 17.3 secs
IDE             EZ135           1 min 17.7 secs

Read tests
EZ135           IDE             1 min  5.8 secs
EZFlyer         IDE             1 min  8.4 secs
ZIP             IDE             1 min 15.4 secs
** End table **

Next a recursive file comparison, using Tree Check (part of the Kobold package) was carried out followed by the time taken to load Papyrus 4 then a final text deleting all the test files using the TOS delete routines (Kobold was too quick!):

** Table data **
SOURCE          TIME

File comparison
IDE             2 min 31.5 secs
EZ135           3 min 03.3 secs
EZFlyer         3 min 16.3 secs
ZIP             4 min 33.2 secs

Load Papyrus 4
IDE             10.7  secs
EZ135           11.3  secs
EZFlyer         11.63 secs
ZIP             11.94 secs

Deletion
IDE             2 min 33.8 secs
EZ135           2 min 57.9 secs
EZFlyer         2 min 05.4 secs
ZIP             2 min 48.3 secs 
** End table **

Conclusions
There's no clear winner. In fact all three drives performed similarly. Although Zip drives are generally regarded as slower than SyQuest drives (and our results show this) the actual difference in everyday use is barely noticeable and the performance gap certainly isn't large enough to recommend one drive over another. So rather than concentrate on performance let's turn  our attention to price. A Zip drive and over 1Gb of cartridges costs around the same price as an EZFlyer and a single 230Mb cartridge.
The extra capacity offered by the EZFlyer and its ability read/write EZ135 cartridges will make it the natural upgrade path for existing EZ135 users. Unfortunately we didn't have access to an Iomega Jaz drive to complete the round up.

** Product box **
Product name: EZ135
Publisher: SyQuest
Contact: +44 (0)131-339-2022
RRP: No longer commercially available
Requires: SCSI interface (ST/STe machines require an external ASCI/SCSI host adapter or through port on existing external SCSI device)
Pros: Bootable
Cons: Poor eject mechanism, no Atari software/cables, short power leads.
Score: 75%
** End of boxout **

** Product box **
Product name: Iomega ZIP 100
Publisher: Iomega
Contact: +44 (0)800 973 194
Cost: Around £179
Requires: SCSI interface (ST/STe machines require an external ASCI/SCSI host adapter or through port on existing external SCSI device)
Pros: Good value for money, cheaper cartridges
Cons: No Atari software/cables, slightly slower than the SyQuest drives
Score: 81%
** End of boxout **