Zip 100 MB, 250 MB, and 750 MB (!) drives
Read about Removable storage here.
Iomega 100 MB Zip drives are almost the standard for today's PCs. The latest iteration, a 750 MB Zip drive could painlessly replace the 100 MB and 250 MB drives in the future becoming the next "floppy drives". In fact, one 250 MB Zip disk is approximately equivalent in capacity to 174 floppy disks. It is also much faster (up to 2.4 MB/sec compared to 0.06MB/sec for floppy drive)! The newest 750 MB drive is 3 times greater in capacity and about 3 times faster!
The next table compares all Zip drives for compatibility:
Zip 750MB Drive Compatibility
| Disk Type | Will read files from | Will write files to | Will format |
|---|---|---|---|
| 750MB Disks | X | X | X |
| 250MB Disks | X | X | X |
| 100MB Disks | X | X | X |
Zip disks can be used to store, backup, and move basic office application files, digital music, presentations, digital photos, digital video, etc. On the other hand, in spite of Iomega's claims that these drives "meet high capacity storage needs" for PC users, these products belongs to the mobile storage rather than to the back-up category.
In the case of internal Zip drive, the only moving thing is the disk. Thanks to the fact that by 1999 Iomega had sold more than 22 million Zip drives (mostly 100 MB) and over 100 million Zip disks, the compatibility issue is quite solvable.
For all other products, the drive itself can be moved, which is even easier now due to the availability of a special rechargeable battery pack capable of keeping your system running for about 2 hours. A good thing about the 250 MB drives is that they work with both 100 MB and 250 MB disks!
The drives usually come in all possible configurations such as:
- Internal Zip
- Parallel port Zip
- USB (Universal Serial Bus) Zip
- SCSI Zip (for high-speed users)
- Mobile Zip
Compare different removable storage systems here!
The above table compares basic performance
features of various Iomega removable products and the price you pay per GB of
data. Typically, the cost per GB (or other unit of capacity) is calculated
using the cost of the disks only (ignoring the drives), but we think, this
method is incorrect.
In the above cost calculation we included the drive itself and the cost of disks
needed to store 2 GB of data (this number was arbitrarily selected). It is
clear that
an ability to move data does not come cheaply: more than $200 per each Gigabite.
Parallel port Zip drives are the simplest in use - they are easily installed and connected to the printer port of the PC. The much faster 250MB SCSI Zip drive is about 50% faster than 100 MB SCSI Zip drive, but both require the addition of a Zip Zoom SCSI accelerator card or other ASPI compatible SCSI card (which is not provided with the drive!). By the way, SCSI is the standard interface on almost all Apple computers. While being faster, SCSI is also more complex! Most Pentium computers have both PCI and ISA expansion slots to connect SCSI cards. You need to check the documentation that came with your computer to see what kind of expansion slots your computer has and buy the SCSI card that fits (it is better to use a PCI slot). There are also different numbers of pins on SCSI connectors (25-pin, 50-pin and 68-pin).
The USB 1.1 (Universal Serial Bus) technology is faster than parallel port and simpler than SCSI. It also allows the connection of multiple devices: using USB hubs one can connect up to 127 devices on a single USB port. To use the USB interface on a PC, one will usually need Microsoft Windows 98 system and higher. The USB 2.0 technology makes data transfer as fast as the Firewire technology.
100 MB and 250 MB ATAPI internal Zip drives are not uncommon now on new computers. If you are planning to add one to your PC, make sure you have an available 3-1/2" or 5-1/4" drive bay and a free connection to the IDE controller. ATAPI (Advanced Technology Attachment Packet) is a type of interface used to connect additional hardware devices to a computer. This is an internal interface used to connect such devices as hard drives, CD-ROMs, tape drives, etc.
Iomega Zip drives for notebook computers come in the 100 MB version only and are made specifically for the drive bays of four leading notebook models in the market: IBM ThinkPad 770, Compaq Armada 7700 and Armada 7800, and Toshiba Slimbay. An external USB version is another convenient option for the notebook users.
Design concept
There is a small reflector window on the back side of each Zip cartridge, which is used by the Zip drive to identify a Zip disk so that it will not mistakenly engage the drive's read/write heads and potentially damage the drive. Since only Zip disks have this reflector, there is no danger of the drive engaging on a mistakenly-inserted floppy disk, for example. (Unfortunately it is possible for a user to insert a non-Zip disk into the Zip and damage the drive just by the act of inserting the non-Zip disk. This reflector is not a foolproof method, but it does help.) The Iomega Jaz drive uses a similar reflector mechanism, by the way.
A flexible disk inside the Zip cartridge spins at 2940 RPM creating a hard disk-like slider-disk interface with the slider flying over the disk surface. The sliders (one for each side of the disk) are dynamically loaded on the disk surface after the system recognizes that the cartridge is inside the drive. When the cartridge is inserted, the special shutter arm moves the cartridge shutter aside allowing access to the disks.
This is done to prevent contamination of the disk and the slider as much as possible, since contamination is the major possible cause of future disk failure. The sliders air-bearing is designed to be tolerant to abrasive particles passing in between the slider and the disk. Most particles on the disk are supposed to be swept away before / during the first read/write operations. Warning! Keep your cartridges clean and do not open the shutters of the cartridges to prevent atmospheric contaminants from entering!
Zip disks are made in a 3.5" form-factor and have total thickness of 62 microns. The external dimensions of the Zip cartridges are 97 x 98.5 x 6 mm.
Typically, Zip disks are made using particulate media technology - similar to that found in magnetic tapes but not in modern hard drives. Nowadays, the most advanced Zip disks use the so-called ATOMM technology (Advanced super Thin-layer and height-Output Metal Media), developed in 1992 by Fuji Film. This media features a high-density ultra-thin layer of magnetic material with a smooth, glossy finish on a base of polymeric flexible media made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). An extremely hard and smooth (but not as smooth as hard disks!) magnetic media is created during simultaneous coating of microscopic spherical particles in the non-magnetic "titan-fine" lower layer. This layer is made of titan particles approximately one-sixth the size of magnetic particles, create a strong, flexible, and ultra-smooth foundation for a thin magnetic layer.
Magnetic particles inside the magnetic layer are kept together with a polyester-polyurethane binder. A thin layer of lubricant is applied on top of Zip disks to improve durability.
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