Iomega Zip
| Storage medium Iomega Zip
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 Iomega ZIP 250 logo |
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| General | |
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| Type | Magnetic storage |
| capacity | 100 MB / 250 MB / 750 MB |
| size | approx. 98 mm × 99 mm × 7 mm |
| origin | |
| developer | iomega |
| successor | iomega Jaz , USB stick |
Zip is the brand name of a no longer produced series of removable disk drives by the iomega company (today LenovoEMC ). The drives work on the same principle as floppy disk drives and hard drives , i.e. the data bits are stored magnetically on a rotating disk.
Zip drives is available both as internal devices in 3 1 / 2 - inch -Baubreite for installation in a computer case as well as external devices with its own housing and its own power supply. While the first devices still had a capacity of 100 MB per Zip disk , later versions with 250 MB and 750 MB followed. The 750 MB drives can only read 100 MB media, but cannot write to them. The internal Zip drives are connected to the computer via the ATA or SCSI bus and were manufactured as OEM versions for various manufacturers ( IBM , Dell , Macintosh PowerPC model series G3 and G4 ). There are special Zip 100 and Zip 250 drives for Thinkpad laptops with which the laptops can be expanded via the UltraBay removable bay . External Zip drives can be connected to the computer via USB , parallel , FireWire or the SCSI interface , depending on the version . The external SCSI Zip drives also have a switch for selecting the SCSI ID and a switch for terminating the SCSI chain.
| Surname | connection | ||||||
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| ATA | ATAPI | SCSI | Parallel | USB | FireWire | UltraBay | |
| Zip 100 |
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| Zip 250 |
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| Zip 750 |
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The dimensions of the medium are approx. 98 mm × 99 mm × 7 mm.
In the second half of the 1990s, the Zip drives, especially the first generation for 100 MB, were very popular and one of the most widespread computer peripherals. The fact that there were practically no competing products and that CD burners were still comparatively expensive and difficult to use at that time contributed significantly to the company's success .
With the drop in the price of CD burners, the introduction of rewritable CD-RWs and, above all, USB sticks , the Zip disk was pushed out of the market until around 2005. In addition, the Zip drives had an increasingly bad reputation due to the frequent "click of death", a head crash caused by a misaligned or dirty read / write head that damaged or destroyed the medium and drive.
photos
external Zip drive for 100 MB media (for operation via parallel port)
Zip drive inside
Zip disk
external zip drive for 250 MB media
internal ZIP drive for 100 MB media
Trivia
In the office suite Microsoft Office : Mac 2004, the save icon, for often a floppy disk as Icon is used, a Zip disk is.
See also
- Diskette - predecessor of the Zip
- SuperDisk - Alternative product from Imation
- EZDrive - Alternative product from SyQuest
- other iomega products: