Bernoulli Transportable 90

     By: Alfred Chan, DDS, Greater South Bay UG

     If you are thinking of buying another hard disk for lack of hard disk
     memory space, consider a Bernoulli Transportable 90 from IOMega. After
     having watched IOMega's Linda Darlon demonstrate to the GS-BUG members
     the pros and cons of the removable portable hard disk, I thought I
     would buy one. And here is what I found.

     Upon purchasing you have to decide how you will connect your Bernoulli
     to your computer. I learned there were two ways to connect the
     Transportable 90:

        1) With a SCSI (pronounced Scuzzi) card in the expansion slot and,
        2) with an adaptor to your parallel port.

     If you purchase the sample kit for $820, you get either the SCSI or
     the adaptor for the parallel port. The price is now cheaper. I saw it
     advertised for $595. I got the SCSI and bought the parallel adaptor
     for about $150. If you have more than one computer it would be wise to
     have the parallel adaptor. You have to format your bernoulli diskette
     before use, easier than formatting DOS floppies.

     I enjoy using the Bernoulli for many reasons. I like the idea that I
     can remove 90 megs whenever it is full and replace it with another
     empty 90 megs. The disks can be purchased for $145 each. Also, if you
     use Stacker for Bernoulli v. 2.02 on the disk, you will then have 180
     megs on each disk or double the 90 megs. Stacker compresses all the
     files on the drive and decompresses them on the fly. Stacker is
     transparent, you don't even know it is there. What's nice about using
     Stacker here, is that the disk carries its own second partition as one
     drive. Usually in using stacker, two partitions or drives are made.
     With so much storage, you can easily carry around all your programs on
     two 180 meg diskettes.

     I like to use Stacker for my Bernoulli diskettes and leave my 120 megs
     of conventional hard disk alone because I dislike making too many
     drives. Stacker makes two drives for every one on the conventional
     hard disk and I have an 80 and 40 meg on C: and D: drives. Stacker on
     the Bernoulli, can also be used on a computer that does not have the
     Stacker driver in the CONFIG.SYS. When you call upon your Bernoulli
     that has a Stacker diskette, you just type "Stacker" and the drive
     ("stacker e:"). The diskette will then perform as a regular Bernoulli
     hard disk. Thus you don't have to make all of your Bernoulli's a
     Stacker drive.

     The Bernoulli does not get involved with your CD ROM drive. It just
     moves the CD ROM drive to the next letter. If your Bernoulli is after
     your hard drive C:, it will be D: and your CD ROM will be E:. If you
     have stacker on your Bernoulli then there will not be an E: drive and
     your CD ROM will be your F: drive.

     Installing new programs can be fun with the Bernoulli. You can either
     place the old program on the Bernoulli as a backup in case you have
     problems with the new program. You can then replace the old one in a
     matter of minutes. No hassle with lots of copying backup floppy disks.
     Also, you can try out or run your new programs on your Bernoulli and
     leave it there. You can accumulate programs that you do not use
     frequently but would like instant access to.

     With the new Oaddos utility programs, you can put the Bernoulli to
     sleep and activate it only when you call on it. That saves wear and
     tear on the drive.

     I would strongly recommend the purchase of the Bernoulli Transportable
     90 if you have storage limitations.