Under 2GB: Smaller Backups

You have one or several folders that need backing up--but you don't need to protect every byte on your hard drive (for example, applications, which you can reinstall easily). The three drives in this category--Zip, CD-RW, and magneto-optical--have maximum storage capacities of 250MB, 700MB, or 1.3GB per disc, so you can back up less than 2GB of data without having to swap an inordinate number of discs. But CD-RW drives make the most sense, thanks to their low cost, their speed, and their use of inexpensive, portable media.

The stylish blue, external Iomega Zip 250MB USB-Powered Drive handles limited amounts of data but does it well. Installation is a snap: You can connect this USB 1.1 device to a PC without powering down; and because the drive doesn't require an external power supply, it's very portable. But when it comes to speed and capacity, the Zip 250MB cannot match competing technologies--which is why we didn't subject it to the same battery of lab tests as the other drives in this review. In our informal tests, copying 247MB with Windows Explorer took more than 9 minutes--just about three times as long as a comparably priced CD-RW drive. Furthermore, a 2GB backup could require as many as eight 250MB Zip cartridges (at a cost of roughly $15 per cartridge). The drive includes QuikSync LE, a scaled-down version of Iomega's software for doing scheduled and on-the-fly backups.

Plextor's PlexWriter 40/12/40A is only slightly cheaper than the Iomega Zip 250MB drive, but the 700MB CD-R and CD-RW media that it uses holds more data and costs far less (50 cents for a CD-R, 80 cents for a CD-RW). The drive was fast, too, taking 1 hour, 43 minutes to back up 10GB of data in our tests.

The illustrated setup guide for our test drive was out of date, but installation was still easy--and typical for an internal drive. We slid the drive into a free bay and connected the power and data cables; upon rebooting, Windows XP recognized the drive on the spot.

The 40/12/40A's biggest selling point is the compatibility of its media: Burn your files to CD-R, and just about any computer-based CD- or DVD-media drive around should be able to read them.

The same can't be said for the media that Fujitsu's external 1.3GB DynaMO 1300U2 uses. The drive is one of a handful of magneto-optical drives on the market, and only other 1.3GB magneto-optical drives can read the $20 discs.

MO has one benefit: Its 3.5-inch media is ensconced in a rugged cartridge that protects the disc from damage and makes it suitable for long-term storage. The discs are small, easy to transport and store, and have a high enough capacity that MO uses two-thirds as many discs as CD-RW to complete the same full backup. Plus, the media's reputation is sound (see " The Foibles and Fortitude of Media " ).

The model that we tested had a USB 2.0 interface, which permits hot-swapping of the drive among multiple PCs. And if you already use a 3.5-inch MO drive, you'll appreciate the DynaMO 1300U2's compatibility with earlier generations of ISO 3.5-inch MO discs. But at $299, the drive itself costs more than twice as much as the Plextor CD-RW drive. Furthermore, in our tests, it's slower than the CD-RW drive for full backups and folder copying.

You certainly can use a rewritable DVD drive or an external hard drive for similar backup tasks. For small backups, however, an inexpensive, low-capacity drive with removable media costs far less.

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