Zip drives for notebooks out

Three weeks after Iomega unveiled its 100MB Zip drives for notebook computers, VST Technologies announced shipment of Zip drives for use with notebooks from IBM and NEC.

Iomega's 15mm removable drive for notebooks signaled the storage company's move into the corporate computing market, where it is an early entrant in high-capacity removable storage products for notebooks.

The IBM ThinkPad-compatible drive is available from VST for the 755CD and CDV; 760CD, E, ED, EL, ELD, LD, XD, and XL; and 765D and L models. The popular 380 and 560 models are not yet supported.

VST Zip drives support NEC Versa notebook models 4200, 6050, 6200, 6060, 6220/6230, and the Minidock 6000.

Iomega's drive has a lock feature that protects data from abrupt movement, and performs up to 40 percent faster in tasks such as opening, saving, and dragging and dropping files, according to Iomega. It comes bundled with new Iomega audio recording and storage software, and software that facilitates storing larger-than-100MB files over multiple disks.

A total of 10 notebook manufacturers, including Acer, Hitachi, Micron, Hewlett-Packard, and NEC, have agreed to offer the Zip drive as an option or standard on selected notebook models.

Like VST, CNF will offer separate drives that fit into the floppy bay of notebooks from various computer makers.

The drives announced today, which join VST Zip drives for use with Apple Computer, are priced at $349.95. Drives for IBM notebooks are available now; drives for NEC notebooks will be available in January.