Dear Allison,
   
   You wrote:
> Though building a class 100 clean room is not that hard.  All that's
> needed is a 200cfm blower, a suitable filter(HEPA) and some 6mil poly
> to surround the output as a curtain.  A bench sized area would be
> trivial.
   
   Hmm, this is interesting. Actually, we have such a facility at CWRU,
since one group here is doing research in chip making, and that apparently
also requires Class 100. Do you need to wear a mask like the ones surgeons
wear when working on an HDA in a clean room?
   
> Your suggesting zip/jaz drives, RA60s, RK0Xs, RM0Xs, and RL0Xs are not
> possible too as they are similar technology.
   
   I have a ZIP drive myself and so far I haven't had any problems, but I
know at least one guy who has lost some valuable data on a ZIP disk when it
had simply become unreadable after three months of storage. They're a handy
way to move files from one PC to another, sure, but don't store your
valuable data on ZIP disks! The same for JAZ, as it is simply a bigger ZIP.
Long Wang (the guy who has lost data on a ZIP disk) was once telling me how
they were equipping a workstation for him at his new job (the one where he
has become Alan Wang) waiting for his arrival, and when he was asked
whether he wanted a JAZ drive, he answered "No, only a DAT drive!".
   
   As for RA60s, RMs, RKs, and RLs, I have more respect for these, simply
because they are so much fun. But again, don't store your valuable data on
them just because they are fun!
   
   Sincerely,
   Michael Sokolov
   Phone: 440-449-0299
   ARPA Internet SMTP mail: sokolov@alpha.ces.cwru.edu