Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
even.a.5.25.inch.loppy.disk.drive.installed..If.you.have.the.
need.to.acquire.data.from.one.of.these.older.types.of.media,.
it.may.require.a.trip.to.your.friendly.neighborhood.computer.
antique.store,.or.a.search.online.for.someone.willing.to.sell.
(or.loan).that.hardware.to.you.
The.same.thing.applies.to.any.of.the.other.older.or.rare.
devices. we. mentioned. above.. I. imagine. that. many. of. the.
readers.of.this.topic.never.even.heard.of.a.Zip.or.Jaz.drive,.
though.for.a.little.while.they.were.a.pretty.popular.choice.for.
storing.more.data..The.Jaz.drive.could.store.up.to.2.GB.of.
data,.which.at.the.time.was.a.huge.storage.device.
If.your.task.is.to.gather.some.important.information.from.
one.of.these.types.of.devices,.I.recommend.an.online.search.
as. your. irst. step.. You. will. ind. that. there. are. still. organi-
zations. out. there. that. will. sell. you. the. proper. hardware. to.
access. the. data. on. those. media.. However,. if. you. know. or.
fear.that.the.data.were.corrupted.or.the.media.was.damaged,.
you.will.probably.have.to.turn.to.a.reputable.and.experienced.
computer.forensics.organization.for.assistance.
Another.way.that.data.can.be.made.inaccessible.is.through.
its.having.been.created.in.a.proprietary.format..Again,.some.
of.you.oldsters.will.remember.word.processing. applications.
such.as.Word.Perfect.and.spreadsheet.tools.like.Lotus.123..
Some.of.these.are.still.in.existence.and.use.today,.yet.they.
have.faded.into.the.background.with.the.ubiquity.of.Microsoft.
Word,.Excel,.and.so.on.
When.applications.are.used.to.create.and.store.data,.those.
applications. use. different. types. of. coding. mechanisms. and.
architectures.to.do.so,.and.in.many.cases.you.cannot.open.
or.view.data.created.by.those.applications.without.using.the.
original.applications.
Say.your.mother.spent.a.lot.of.time.15.years.ago.docu-
menting.your.family.history.and.lineage.using.Word.Perfect.
version. 1.2.. She. carefully. saved. all. of. that. important. infor-
mation.on.her.5.25.inch.loppy.disks.and.stored.them.in.a.
shoebox.in.the.closet.
