In this third iteration of the Zip drive, Iomega has pushed capacity up to 750MB, representing a healthy tripling of capacity since the previous move from 100MB to 250MB. It's a healthy progression and it positions the drive as a direct competitor to CD-RW technology.

The new drive comes in USB 2.0 or Firewire versions, although the USB version is backwards compatible with the USB 1.1 standard. The unit has a sleeker, sexier styling than either of the previous generations. A handy attachment means that the unit can be positioned on its side or it can sit flat, making it easy to find a space for it on even the most crowded workstations or desks. The new 750MB disks look remarkably like the 250MB ones, but try as we might there was no way to persuade an older disk to format to 750MB capacity, unsurprisingly.

Installation is straightforward. Connect the drive, install the IomegaWare software package from the CD and off you go. Existing Zip drives are not effected, and there seem to be no problems with installing the new drive if you have an older one still attached. Both of them appear as available drives in Windows Explorer.

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In addition to IomegaWare, which provides the basic set of functions required for the drive, the CD contains a number of other applications, including Iomega Sync for synchronising content between the hard drive and a Zip disk, and Iomega's long-standing backup utility, Automatic Backup.

The thorny issue of backwards compatibility cannot be avoided. The Iomega Zip 750 drive can read all Zip media, but it cannot write to 100MB disks. Some people have reported trouble writing to 250MB disks, but we had no problems in our tests. Still, the restriction on writing back to 100MB disks may be a problem for some people, particularly in environments where the first generation of drives is still doing sterling work.

The performance of the Iomega Zip 750 is sprightly, more so when using USB 2.0. It's still comparable to a fast CD drive, which brings to where the new drive is positioned in the removable storage arena. Where the Zip wins over CD-RW is that it can be easily used for reading and writing files; essentially it's another disk drive, albeit with slower performance. Even with the appropriate software, CD-RW just doesn't have this level of ease of use.

However if you only want a medium for archiving and backup, then the Zip becomes an expensive option. The media costs are many times more than the cost of a blank re-writable CD - and you need to be aware that a blank disk isn't included when you buy a new drive.

If there's a quibble it's that the Iomega Zip 750 drive tends to be noisy when spinning up, but for most of the time it sits there quietly offering an extra chunk of storage capacity and a handy means of swapping large data volumes between machines. However, the relatively high cost of the media is definitely an issue that needs to be borne in mind. But if it meets your requirements in other ways then this is a nice piece of kit to have.