Removable
magnetic disks
SyQuest, Bernoulli, Zip, Jaz, REV and RDX solved the same removable-storage problem with very different transports and compatibility rules.
“Removable disk” is a use case, not a compatibility family
| Family | Representative models/capacities | Evidence / preservation issue |
|---|---|---|
| SyQuest | SQ400/44 MB, SQ88, SQ200; EZ135/EZFlyer; SyJet; SparQ | Multiple separate drive families; original/manual archives survive for model-level work. |
| Bernoulli | multiple capacities/generations | Incomplete surviving primary compatibility evidence: do not publish a universal matrix. |
| Zip | 100 / 250 / 750 MB | Documented backward-read rules; dedicated Zip reference. |
| Jaz | 1 / 2 GB | 2 GB drive documented as supporting existing 1 GB media. |
| REV | 35 / 70 / 120 GB | Strong generation-specific compatibility cliff. |
| RDX | HDD and SSD cartridges | Active ecosystem; current vendor advertises broad forward/backward compatibility. |
One brand, several incompatible branches
SyQuest was central to desktop publishing and prepress. The SQ555 OEM documentation identifies a 44 MB formatted SQ400 cartridge and SCSI transport. Later SQ88/SQ200, EZ135/EZFlyer, SyJet and SparQ products belong to later branches and should not be collapsed into a guessed universal ladder.
Record cartridge designation and drive model together. Surviving SyQuest OEM/manual archives make model-specific compatibility preferable to folklore. These disks frequently contain HFS or FAT, but prepress recovery also needs resource forks, fonts and application metadata.
The documentation gap should remain visible
Iomega Bernoulli systems used flexible magnetic media in removable cartridges and evolved through multiple physical and capacity generations before Zip. Surviving museum and period material establishes the family, but the deep-research pass did not find a sufficiently complete original-Iomega drive × cartridge read/write matrix to publish as authoritative fact.
Gigabyte removable disk for creative workstations
Jaz began at 1 GB and later moved to 2 GB. Period Iomega reporting for the 2 GB generation states that the 2 GB drive can use existing 1 GB cartridges. The 1 GB installation documentation confirms the strongly SCSI-oriented host environment of the early product. This supports a 2 GB-drive → 1 GB-media backward path; it does not justify claiming the reverse.
A compatibility ladder with a sharp break
| Drive | REV 35 | REV 70 | REV 120 |
|---|---|---|---|
| REV 35 | R/W | No | No |
| REV 70 | R/W; reduced write performance documented | R/W | No |
| REV 120 | No | Read only | R/W |
Archived Iomega manufacturer documentation is unusually useful here: a REV 120 drive is not the universal reader for the family because it does not support the 35 GB cartridge.
An active docking ecosystem rather than one recording format
RDX cartridges package conventional hard disks and, in newer products, SSDs behind a rugged removable interface. Overland-Tandberg, the current RDX technology owner, advertises forward/backward compatibility and current HDD media from 500 GB through 5 TB plus higher-capacity SSD media. Current QuikStor docks use SATA III or USB 3.x host paths.
That makes RDX different from most obsolete families on this page: a current dock may be a sensible acquisition transport for older cartridges. The medium inside is still a block device, so preserve the complete device rather than only visible files.
Transport → block image → partitioning → filesystem
Document model/capacity and source platform, source the correct transport, verify it with expendable media, prevent automatic repair/write mounting, and acquire the whole addressable device. On marginal media use retry-aware imaging so successful regions are not needlessly reread. Analyse partitions/filesystems from the image and preserve Macintosh resource forks and application metadata where relevant.
Model-level documentation
SyQuest: Bitsavers/BAMA SyQuest manufacturer manual archive ↗ · SQ555 OEM reference manual mirror ↗
Jaz: Iomega Jaz 1 GB installation manual mirror ↗ · 1998 report on Iomega 2 GB Jaz and 1 GB compatibility ↗
REV: Iomega REV 35 manual mirror ↗ · Iomega REV 120 manual mirror ↗
RDX: Overland-Tandberg RDX media ↗ · RDX QuikStor docks ↗
Bernoulli evidence gap: Obsolete Media Museum overview ↗
ManualsLib/Bitsavers links are archival mirrors of discontinued manufacturer documentation, not current vendor support pages.