Placeholder Image

字幕表 動画を再生する

  • Greetings and welcome to LGR Oddware, where we're taking a look at hardware

  • and software that is odd, forgotten, and obsolete! And today's is certainly a

  • mixture of the three as usual: this is the Iomega "Clik!" drive, also known as the

  • PocketZip, released in 1999 as an alternative to other portable storage

  • media. However this one is a tiny little disk, it's pretty friggin neat I think.

  • So let's take a look at the Clik! All right let's do this... this is the Iomega Clik

  • drive introduced in early 1999 at a suggested price of 200 US dollars for

  • the Clik Mobile Drive that interfaces using a PCMCIA card. And $250 for this

  • external Clik Drive for Digital Cameras bundle that connects via the parallel

  • port. And there was also a Clik Drive Plus available that bundled both of

  • these options together into a single package for $300. And then we have the

  • Clik disks themselves which measure about 2" x 2.2 inches and were sold in

  • packs of 2, 3, or 10 costing $30, $50, or $100 for each bundle respectively. And I

  • think the design of these things is just downright pleasant, with their metal

  • casing and tiny mechanisms, making it delightful to hold and admire. And hidden

  • away behind this little door you get a magnetic disc which it uses for storage.

  • Much like you'd find in a floppy disk, but much smaller, thinner, and packed more

  • densely with data, and of course it's proprietary to this format. And although

  • they were made by Iomega and were later rebranded as Pocket Zip disks, they're

  • not exactly the same as the more successful ZIP disk format. Now they do

  • both use magnetic floppy disk storage but from what I gather the exact

  • specifics of the way the ZIP and the Clik disks actually store that data

  • differ in some way, with a bit of separation between the two formats in

  • terms of average read/write speeds and density and all that kind of stuff.

  • And considering the two formats were contemporaries of each other,

  • competing for somewhat similar markets at the same time you might ask: what was the

  • point of the Clik disk? Well all sorts of things leading up to its launch, but

  • eventually the idea behind the Clik disk was to provide a stopgap in terms

  • of economics and physical size between Iomega's own ZIP disks and the

  • increasingly popular solid state storage options like CompactFlash and SmartMedia

  • cards, especially in the growing digital photo storage market for digital

  • cameras. And considering a 32 megabyte CompactFlash card could cost around

  • $150 in 1999, paying as little as $10 for one 40 megabyte disk was not a bad

  • value proposition. And considering the increasing storage needs for devices

  • like digital cameras, notebook computers, and handhelds running Windows CE,

  • there was a race to capitalise on portable storage media. For example, by

  • the end of 1999 you had Compact Flash cards, Smart Media cards, MMC cards, Sony

  • Memory Sticks, Secure Digital cards, IBM MicroDrives, LS-120 SuperDisks, HiFD

  • disks, Zip disks, and rewritable CDs all on the market simultaneously, each of

  • them attempting to meet wildly different storage needs at wildly different

  • capacities and price points. Then came the humble 40 megabyte Iomega Clik

  • disk and... no one cared. It's not that it wasn't impressive on a technical level

  • since it really was a marvel of electromechanical miniaturization. All of

  • its circuitry, read/write heads, doors, latches, eject mechanisms, and everything

  • else were tightly packed into something so small it could fit into a standard PC

  • Card, inserting with its eponymous click sound.

  • *lovely click sound*

  • But the Clik was met with an uphill battle from the start.

  • In addition to the ridiculous amounts of market

  • competition the big problem was that you needed a dedicated Clik drive that cost

  • another two to three hundred dollars, while a simple CompactFlash to PCMCIA

  • adapter was only about 20 dollars. And yeah, the cards themselves were more

  • expensive at first but the prices on them were beginning to decrease and

  • their capacities were growing steadily. As PC Magazine put it in December of

  • 1999: the Clik drive was "technically intriguing," but "maybe an answer to a

  • question not enough people are asking." So that was one reason,

  • another popular anecdote I've seen for the Clik's failure is its name, and that

  • invited negative association with the infamous "click of death" class-action

  • lawsuit over the self-destruction of Zip drives. But while it is an unfortunate

  • name in retrospect, I'm skeptical about how much the company actually cared

  • about this potential association, considering the lawsuit was filed in

  • 1998 -- half a year before the Clik drive was ever released. The lawsuit was

  • settled later on in 2001, but by then Iomega had already rebranded the failed

  • Clik as the PocketZip in August of 2000. And according to Iomega PR it was

  • because they wanted to capitalize on the "good name" and "brand recognition" of their

  • Zip products. A negative connotation with the Zip drive's failings was never the

  • stated reason for the name change, as far as I can tell, but I'm sure it was

  • something they were aware of and changing the name was a good idea just

  • in case. Either way, though no matter what the

  • name was it didn't help much because people still weren't buying them.

  • It didn't even help that Clik drives were integrated into a few consumer

  • electronics like the Rave MP 2300 portable MP3 recorder, the Agfa ePhoto

  • CL30 digital camera, and Iomega's HipZip MP3 player. *chuckles* There's a classic early 2000s

  • name for you. Iomega was pretty stubborn about MP3 players being the big break

  • PocketZip needed in 2001, making the case that the format was a rugged way to

  • store your music. But well, the Apple iPod thoroughly crushed that idea with

  • it's beefy hard drive storage and intense marketing, and then flash memory

  • killed off what little market remained for the PocketZip. By 2003 you could get a

  • 32 megabyte USB key for about $40, and with those getting cheaper and bigger

  • all the time Iomega pulled the plug on the Clik / Pocket Zip drive,

  • canceling their plans for a 100 meg version and promptly leaving the format

  • behind. But while they abandoned the Clik the adventure is just starting for

  • us! After all my philosophy is that all oddware deserves a second chance on LGR,

  • so let's try out these two forms of the device beginning with the PC Card drive.

  • And right off the bat, I'm sure you've noticed it, but this has a nice

  • iridescent box. I'm very much a sucker for this shiny kind of packaging.

  • Straight away inside the box you get some legal information,

  • a bit of troubleshooting, a quickstart guide and the Iomega software CD. And

  • this version in particular came with Windows 95 and 98 compatible software.

  • They also released Windows CE and 2000 later on. And you also get a single Clik

  • disk in this protective little plastic case. And inside of this black box you

  • get a protective case for your protected disks. It's a nice, lightweight, brushed

  • aluminum case with a rubber inside. You can fit a couple disks quite snugly

  • right in there with a spot for the PCMCIA card on the right. And speaking of

  • the card, here is the card! You got that end right there that plugs into the pins on

  • your computer or device of choice, and yeah, it's a pretty standard PC Card, no

  • power or external dongles required. You just take the Clik disk and insert it

  • into the end of it and there you go! It's ready to put in your computer. We'll use

  • this in a moment but in the meantime let's take a look at the digital camera

  • kit, which is quite a bit more involved as you might be able to see here from

  • the quick start guide. That's not the quickest of quick start guides I've ever

  • seen. In fact there's a lot of steps on a lot of components and a lot of different

  • things to worry about. Anyway you once again get a Clik disk

  • in the package as well as a much beefier manual and some more Clik software.

  • And yeah this was a used refurbished model so it doesn't have all the original

  • packaging inside, but it does have all the components. The main one here is the

  • Iomega Clik drive, the parallel port version.

  • Opening this latch reveals where you insert the Clik disk, on the back you

  • can plug in adapters of various types, and along the bottom is where you attach

  • the battery. Yep this one is battery-powered, it has a 3.6 volt nickel

  • metal hydride rechargeable battery that just plugs in right there. But we're not

  • done yet, you also have the flash memory card reader. And that is really the big

  • appeal of this particular kit because it has slots for Compact Flash and Smart

  • Media cards, and it attaches to the rear of the portable Clik drive. We'll show

  • you how that works in just a moment, but you might be wondering "how do you

  • actually connect this to a computer?" Well that's where the cradle comes into play.

  • So you actually have to disconnect the flash memory reader and then plug in the

  • drive to the top of this, or you could actually just plug it in directly to the

  • parallel port interface, which also doubles as the cables for the cradle

  • itself. And when you get this plugged in it not only provides the parallel port

  • connection to the computer and a pass through if you want to connect a

  • printer, but also this is where the power adapter has to be plugged in. And yes, the

  • cradle has to be powered and this is the only way that you can charge the battery.

  • You can't actually plug in the AC adapter to the unit itself so you have

  • to bring this stuff along if you want to charge it up. At the end you're left with

  • a less-than-convenient "portable" system I would say. Even though it does infer

  • "portability" by coming with this handy little leather Clik drive pouch.

  • But really all this can fit is the bare drive itself. It doesn't hold the flash

  • reader, doesn't hold a battery -- it holds the drive, one Clik disk, and

  • that's about it! Yeah the more you unpack this the less appealing the potential

  • uses for this become. Anyway, assuming you have the three necessary components to

  • copy over cards you just plug in the Clik disk in the left side of the drive

  • over here and then a Compact Flash or Smart Media card over here. You just

  • press the button and it will immediately start the file copying process. Which is

  • one way: from the flash memory card to the Clik disk. It took a good three and

  • a half minutes to do a full 40-ish megabyte copy for me, but I will admit

  • the convenience is there, it's just a one-button thing! And once you're done

  • there you go, you've got the contents of your memory card copied over to your

  • Iomega Clik disk, and you're now free of the restraints of a filled memory card

  • and are ready to go and do other digital camera things I guess. Yay!

  • However, for our purposes let's go ahead and take a look at the files that have

  • just copied over, and to do that we'll be using this lovely IBM ThinkPad 380XD.

  • *Windows 95 startup sound plays*

  • Mmm, Windows 95. ❤

  • First order of business is to get the Iomega software installed.

  • This not only contains the drivers and tools that make the disks fully

  • accessible and all that stuff, but it provides a couple of extra programs that

  • are quite handy, and we'll be taking a look at those in just a moment.

  • Once that's installed and the computer restarts, it's time to insert the PC Card

  • into the PC Card slot... Which if you've done correctly on a PC setup like this

  • you'll get these little sound effects.

  • *PCMCIA beeping and notification sounds*

  • And now we can plug in the Clik disk itself.

  • It's not necessary to insert it into the drive second, however it's

  • actually really easy to eject the disk as you're inserting the card due to how

  • the mechanism works, so this is what I'm doing. Anyway once you've done that

  • it shows up as a removable disk drive under My Computer and there we go!

  • IMG00001 is the folder that it wrote and here are the digital

  • photos that I had saved on a Compact Flash card. Which were taken on a Sony

  • Mavica FD5 camera, which uses floppy disks so yeah this is not the most

  • appropriate thing, but you know it doesn't matter. But yeah with the

  • software installed you get access to these extra things in the pop-up menus

  • like the ability to format the disks in either a quick or full surface format

  • variety, as well as being able to read and write protect the disks. This is not

  • done with a physical mechanism, you use software to prevent anyone from reading

  • or writing to the disk that you don't want to without a password. And it'll

  • just show up as not being there if you don't know the password. You also get

  • some handy information added to the regular Windows properties windows...

  • Windows windows? Yeah whatever, these things! All sorts of stats and options

  • that you can set that you wouldn't be able to without installing the Iomega

  • software. One of the utilities that you get in the IomegaWare folder is

  • QuickSync, and this right here is just your standard kind of backup software. You

  • tell it what drive you want to back up to, what folders you want backed up, and

  • how often and it'll do that. Which, I don't want to do that. But what I do want

  • to do is copy the contents of a Compact Flash card in the other PCMCIA slot,

  • which contains a copy of Duke Nukem 3D, and transfer that directly to the Clik

  • drive using the Copy Machine software which is the other main utility this

  • comes with. And this is just a straight-up media copying utility, so you select

  • the drive you want to copy from and then the drive you want to copy to. Which of

  • course in this case is the Clik drive, and well...

  • *Clik drive struggling to read, making grinding noises*

  • off-screen: "Oh."

  • That's not good at all.

  • I'm not entirely sure what happened, everything was reading and writing just

  • fine until I had that second PC Card slot full.

  • *more Clik drive death noises, followed by Windows error sounds*

  • So I took that card out of

  • there and it still didn't work, apparently this drive was just ready to

  • die. Which is a real shame, I was enjoying the crap out of it before it did! Maybe I

  • just had a bad drive, I don't know, this is the only one that I have. So we're

  • gonna move on to the parallel port drive which seems to be a little bit more

  • robust. At least isn't cramped into a PCMCIA slot, so here we go.

  • Let's try the Copy Machine software once again to see if we can get Duke3D copied

  • from Compact Flash directly to a Clik disk. And yep that works just fine! Ended

  • up taking about nine minutes to copy around 33 megabytes of data. It copied

  • over without hassle, no sad noises of the drive dying this time. But being that

  • this is running over parallel I expected it to be a little bit slower and it

  • certainly is. This is Duke3D running off of a Clik

  • disk directly and it's a somewhat similar experience to when I was trying

  • to run it off of a Zip drive over parallel. Even though that was the Atomic

  • Edition, this is just the regular one, so this is a little bit quicker maybe

  • because it's a smaller game, but anyway. Under ECP or EPP mode it stutters and

  • it's choppy here and there, just depends on what it's loading. For instance it

  • takes about 17 seconds to load from the main menu to the first level. And then

  • while that is loaded it still has to access the disk every so often to bring

  • in new sound files and the music and certain graphics and things like that.

  • *Duke 3D sounds play out, with choppy effect. Graphics and sound stutter when the Clik disk loads data.*

  • So you end up with some stuttering and lag every so often. Again, this is just

  • kind of expected for a game like this loading from a disk over a parallel port.

  • But it's perfectly playable and you know, it's just something stupid to mess with

  • because -- I don't know, I like loading Duke 3D off of obsolete media. I don't

  • really care what the results are, it just amuses me to see it happen. I know that

  • the PC Card would be faster, it just that sucks that that thing died in the middle

  • of testing. Ah well, requiescat in pace flimsy PC Card.

  • Long live the slower but more robust parallel port Clik drive!

  • *RPG explosion*

  • Well that's pretty much it for the Pocket Zip slash "Clik!" disk drive. And you know what?

  • I really like this! Just in the sense of the way it's designed and built. The

  • form factor, the shape, the mechanism, the fact that there's a floppy diskette

  • magnetic media in there, it's just neat. And in retrospect it's just a lot of fun,

  • I like screwing around with this. However, I can also see why it wasn't a success

  • in any sense of the word. In fact I can't even find any hard sales numbers, like

  • units sold or how many were left unsold. But it's my guess that there were a lot

  • of them left unsold because from what I gather a ton of people that ended up

  • buying these around you know, 2002 or 3 or 4, got them when they were on

  • clearance and just like, stuck in bargain bins. And I would be curious to hear if

  • you had any experience with this back in the day when it was still fresh, because

  • I didn't. I don't even remember seeing this on store shelves. Um, then again I

  • wasn't paying too much attention. I was pretty much just happy playing Need For

  • Speed: High Stakes. But anyway if you enjoyed this video then awesome, perhaps

  • you would like to see some of my other LGR Oddware episodes. For instance I've

  • covered the Iomega Zip drive in the past and I'm sure I'll cover more Iomega

  • stuff in the future. They were a fascinating company that did a lot of

  • fascinating things back in the day, I just think this stuff is neat. And if you

  • do you're in the right spot! Either way though there are new episodes

  • coming every Monday and Friday here on LGR.

  • And as always thank you very much for watching!

Greetings and welcome to LGR Oddware, where we're taking a look at hardware

字幕と単語

ワンタップで英和辞典検索 単語をクリックすると、意味が表示されます

B1 中級

LGRオッドウェア - イオメガクリク!タイニー40MBディスクドライブ (LGR Oddware - Iomega Clik! Tiny 40MB Disk Drive)

  • 0 0
    林宜悉 に公開 2021 年 01 月 14 日
動画の中の単語