Cheap at the price Popular ZIP 100 drive by Iomega, shown with stack of 100 MB removable data cartridges. Myles votes this one king of the inexpensive category and most likely to still be around a year or two from now. Internal version comes standard on some new Wintel PCs and Power Mac mini-tower models this fall. Iomega Corp. The Zip can currently handle up to 100 MB cartridges and can be found at most retail outlets. It comes in two flavours and four versions.
Zip drives can be external or mounted internally in a computer.
Iomega recently released a new category of Zip drive, the Zip Plus, which is basically the same as the original external model except that it can be used on either parallel or SCSI connections. Although Zips can handle up to 100 MB of data, Zip drives need special software, available primarily from Iomega, to be used successfully to back up large hard drives. The backup software currently part of Windows 95, for example, although it sees the drive as a removable device, can't store data across several cartridges. The program stops when it reaches the end, saying 'disk full'. Some third-party products, notably Cheyenne backup software, can also handle Zips but, if you plan to use a Zip drive as a backup device, don't assume automatically that you can do so.