Imation Superdisk USB
|
|
|
|
Contact and Other Information
|
|
| Manufacturer: |
Imation
|
| Description: |
External USB Removable Drive
|
| Address: |
Imation
1 Imation Place
Oakdale, MN 55128-3414
U.S.A.
|
| Price: |
US$169.95 at Outpost.com
US$169.95 at MacWholesale
|
| Telephone: |
1-800-888-2700
|
| Fax: |
1-888-466-3456
|
| Requirements |
Mac OS 8.1 and later
Available USB port
CD-ROM
16 MB of RAM
5MB HD space
iMac: Firmware update 1.0 and iMac OS update 1.0 (8.1) or 1.1 (8.5)
|
| System Used For Testing |
Power Macintosh G3 All-in-one
ADS Tech USB Port PCI Card |
Superdisk USB Review
by Michael Munger
The Imation SuperDisk is a removable storage solution that works with both standard 1.44MB floppy disks and special high density 120 MB disks made by Imation. Driver software and documentation are included on a CD.
Installation was easy. Plug a cable from the disk to the power supply, and connect another cable from the drive to the USB port. Then run the software installer from the CD. There is only one installation option, "easy install," available. That takes a few seconds, and leaves a couple of extensions in the Extensions folder. Restart and the SuperDisk drive is ready for use.
Features
The drive is different than most drives out there because it is versatile. You can use standard floppy disks with it and, at the same time, you have a mass storage option with the 120 MB SuperDisk diskettes. In short, two drives for the price of one. This is an advantage over Imation's competitors.
Another smart feature is the eject button. It allows you to eject a disk if your computer is not running or you cannot eject with the standard ways. How does it look?
You can look at the small picture in this page to see that it is an "ice" look. There is no flavor and there are no ways to change it in the default packaging.
Documentation
There is no printed manual, nor a booklet. The only place to get the information you need to set up the drive and learn how to take advantage of it is the PDF file that comes on the CD. Your only hope to get something to read in your hands is to print the PDF file. This is a bit annoying because nothing beats a real paper manual, especially for the folks who do not have Acrobat Reader installed and who might not figure out how to find it. The documentation found in the PDF file itself was acceptable.
Performance test vs. Zip 100:
I tested the SuperDisk against my Zip 100 drive to see which one was the fastest in high capacity storage. The tests were daily routines or operations made on the Mac used to do the review. First, there was disk formatting. The second test was copying 86.2MB of backup with several compressed files, some bigger than others. The Zip drive was much faster in these operations, as the comparison below shows it.
| Operation/Disk |
SuperDisk |
Zip 100 |
| Formatting |
4.63 seconds |
3,41 seconds |
| Copying 82.6 MB |
3 minutes |
1 minute 39 seconds |
The Zip Disk still holds the edge in performance over the SuperDisk
Performance test vs. Apple SuperDrive (Floppy Drive)
As I have the old Apple floppy drive in my beige G3, I had to compare it to the SuperDisk's performance with floppy disks. Imation's drive out muscled the Apple SuperDrive easily as you can see below. The first operation was to format a 1.4MB disk, the other, copying a 1.3 MB image. Besides winning in speed, the SuperDisk mounted floppies faster than my internal floppy drive.
| Operation/Disk |
SuperDisk |
Apple SuperDrive |
| Formatting |
53 seconds |
1 minute 28 seconds |
| Copying 1.3 MB |
49 seconds |
1 minute 2 seconds |
Against Apple's standard floppy drive, the SuperDisk is the clear winner
Conclusion
There were no reliability problems during testing, and no data loss. Although the Zip beats the Superdisk's speed for high capacity storage, we think the USB Superdisk is a good option for people who want an inexpensive alternative to separate floppy and storage drives on USB equipped Macs. Moreover, it wins over the traditional floppy drive made by Apple.
|
Final Score (Maximum score is 5 Gadgies)
|
|
3 1/2 Gadgies
|
Pros |
Outstanding reliability, solid performance
Floppy and storage drive in one unit
Beats Apple's floppy drive |
  |
Cons |
No flavors
Outperformed by a Zip drive
No printed manual |
|
