Talk:Zip drive

message: In the first paragraph, it states that the ZIP drive has faded from popularity. wouldn't it be more accurate to say that it has disappeared almost entirely? 68.228.111.250 17:52, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Not necessarily... I still see them around quite often. Just because they are there and aren't used doesn't mean that the Zip drive has disappeared almost entirely. I know a few pathology labs that still store old stacks of slides on Zip disks and many schools still include them in their machines.--Borisborf 02:57, 24 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually, I'd say that they have become obsolete because you can't buy them in local stores like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, etc.  I'd say that makes them specialty items that you have to special order because they are obsolete. -- Suso 03:45, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Does anybody know how the transfer rate for the 250MB Zip drive compares to the 1GB Hi-MD MiniDisk?  I like the cost and size of the Hi-MD much better, but I'm sure the transfer rate is going to have to be much slower because it just doesn't spin very fast.KJ-386 19:36, 30 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  -blink- -blink- ... someone asked this in 2007? I'm a diehard for old kit, but even I had long since moved on from the idea of using HiMDs as storage media by then - a 1Gb USB key was about as cheap as a (rare as hen's teeth - I generally had to settle for reformatted 74 minute ones) HiMD disc, let alone the player, cable and battery needed to read it. Sturdier, too. Incidentally, the transfer rate IIRC was something like 2x - 4x CD speed (limited by the HiMD hardware), pretty dismal and slower than any kind of Zip, but all they needed to make it seem perfectly fast for someone dropping a few 64kbit ATRACs or 128kbit MP3s onto it from Soundstage (scale speed of 18 ~ 75x playback) and far quicker than MD-Data. 193.63.174.10 (talk) 13:46, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

text: The question I had reading the article, which wasn't answered, is: Does Iomega still make any? If so, how many? If not, when did they stop? I haven't had a drive on my computer since earlier in this decade, but there have to be some people who still have them and use them. Remember, eight-track cartridges were still made and sold (via the mail) to diehards until 1988, and Sony only stopped making DAT machines two years ago. Technologies, even when clearly obsolete, still have a longer terminal period than most people realize. Daniel Case 02:38, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: To at least partially answer my own question, the company does still offer them for sale on its website.. I don't think they sell in retail stores anymore, however. Daniel Case 03:14, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

text: I saw the 100MB and 250MB USB-powered drives for sale recently at a Staples store in NC.  Of course, sales (or lack thereof) reveal nothing about how many old drives are still in regular use.  I just recently connected my first USB 250MB drive (w/ separate power supply) to its third computer.  The drive gets used for about fifteen seconds a day, backing up financial data files of less than 10MB total size.  It may very well outlast three more computers, but its performance and utility won't put another dime in Iomega's pocket.  I have never worn out a Zip disk either, which means that I haven't needed to buy one in years.  KJ-386 16:05, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I just bought a brand new Zip drive and three disks yesterday at Office Depot, so they're still out there. — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 00:26, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: In heaven's name, why? I can understand needing to shift some stuff off old archive discs, or transfer things to a crufty legacy machine that still uses them, but a brand new drive and three brand new discs? eBay perhaps? And just one disc? Take the 300mb (or 750, or 2250) of storage you've got there and put it next to a few CDRs, or a single DVDR, or one (4gb) or two (2gb) USB memory sticks....
I've just found a Zip drive along with some old hardware.  Any suggestions as to what to do with it?  Paperweight, perhaps?  — Chameleon 08:37, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

text: eBay, mate! Maybe sell it to ACupOfCoffee... There'll be someone out there who's just found a stack of old archives on Zip and wants to transfer them to a more up to date medium, but doesn't have a working drive any more. That's assuming yours works OK of course - remember that clickdeath is CONTAGIOUS. 193.63.174.10 (talk) 13:41, 8 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: unpopularity or complete obsolescence?

message: I've never used a Zip drive and therefore know nothing of its interface. Will someone with information on the interface please update the article?--Fermin (talk) 22:05, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: This is one thing that's at least fairly accurate in the article. You had a choice of them... kicking off with a Mac/Unix SCSI and a DOS/Windows/universal Parallel external models, then expanding into SCSI and ATAPI internal units, before ending up as USB. What I find wierdest are the 250mb USB1.1 type, as they'd surely peak at a lower speed than even the 100mb parallel ones could manage. In all cases, so long as you had the appropriate socket on your machine, you just plugged it in and installed a simple low footprint driver or (for external drives) ran a miniscule TSR connection program to give you a drive letter, and optionally a speed optimiser. 193.63.174.10 (talk) 13:37, 8 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Interface 

message: Are you sure its including the Z100USB model? Because I used to use one (the big blue, clear-cased version) and I remember CLEARLY that this does not happen (the morse code flashing) when the USB connection is unplugged AND powered on. Please correct me if I'm wrong or I guess you have the wrong model. There are a few Z100USB variants as stated here. Someone please review this as I have never seen this happening on other externally powered USB versions (the Z250USBPCM for instance). --Debug-GED 03:39, 10 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Easter Eggs" 

message: Would someone mind clarifying what is meant by "the USB Zip 250 has an external ATAPI connection that is rarely used"? — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 04:30, 24 March 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: dunno mate... there seems to be a great deal of questionable information in this article. Why in the world would they even include something like that? 193.63.174.10 (talk) 13:29, 8 July 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I have a Zip 250 USB (not USB powered) which has a large, multi-pin connector on its back end. I've no idea what it's for. Bizzybody (talk) 03:24, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Iomega made PCMCIA and Firewire adapters for the externally powered Zip 250. Either one also provided power to the drive. Firewire required a 6-pin port. The PCMCIA adapter was a connector on a cable, attached to the card. The Firewire adapter was in a housing that fit onto the rear of the drive and covered almost the whole back end. http://www.iomega.com/support/manuals/zip2u/inst_drive_pcm.html http://www.iomega.com/support/manuals/firewire/get_start.html Mystery solved! Now the info needs put into the article.Bizzybody (talk) 03:52, 12 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Requesting clarification 

message: I don't suppose anyone knows the Power supply requirements for a Zip 100 Drive?
Had a clear out, found an Zip 100 & no PSU.
EDIT:  Just acquired one, output is +5 Volts @ 1.0 Ampres  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.25.193.117 (talk) 19:21, 17 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Power Supply Specifications 

message: Anybody knows this for the 3 types of media? --RokerHRO (talk) 12:34, 22 December 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I found . Can anyone verify these values? Esp. the different disk geometry values scares me. How does the partition table entries look on the pre-formated media? --RokerHRO (talk) 12:42, 22 December 2009 (UTC)
replies: text:  I'd be interested to know this sort of data as well, particularly if it's (hard?) sectored with a GCR/etc type of variable sector per track scheme. Ben Heck was doing some analysis of signals going back and forth between a computer and a parallel Zip drive (...seemingly not being bothered about doing any online research first, which would have yelled "it's a SCSI device with a built in parallel adaptor, and an ATAPI style driver that sends SCSI commands down the parallel cable", which he sort of almost but not quite managed to figure out from sticking a logic analyser on the cable then poring through the driver source), and seeing something that looked like it might be a certain number of 512-byte sectors per second, but it was unclear. Knowing the sector structure and the rpm would certainly help on that front, though there's probably quite a lot of buffering between the cable and the actual media anyway. 51.7.49.27 (talk) 16:34, 16 September 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  How many physical sectors (exactly) are on the medium? 

message: This article needs to be given a thorough once-through to remove the incorrect of "they", "them", "their", etc. that can't apply to an un-living object. Unless ZIP disks start to get together and develop awareness like The Terminator or Agent Smith, I must criticize this article as inaccurate and hard-to-read, or also unable to be read and understood from a proper perspective. Japanimation station (talk) 05:10, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't believe there is any such prohibition in the English language, as for example, "I have two cars, they are both green." is perfectly acceptable usage. Tom94022 (talk) 05:37, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Heck, I'd love to hear what their suggestion would be for the plural of "it"... 51.7.49.27 (talk) 16:00, 16 September 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Poorly written 

message: "...nor could ever match the storage size available on rewritable CDs..." The Zip 750 held more than what has become the de-facto standard 80 minute / 703 megabyte CD-R/RW capacity. Bizzybody (talk) 03:30, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't think I've ever even seen 750mb Zipdisks for sale, they seem about as imaginary as the 25mb ones. If we consider the much more common 100 and 250mb ones, they're decidedly below what any CDR other than maybe the 8cm miniatures (and perhaps the credit-card shaped types?) had to offer. 51.7.49.27 (talk) 16:02, 16 September 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Capacity 

message: What's the large connector for on the back of the USB (not USB powered!) Zip 250? It looks like it's made for some sort of adapter to snap onto. Bizzybody (talk) 03:30, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: It's an ATAPI interface.  This information is in the article. 86.176.156.193 (talk) 08:49, 29 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Iomega made PCMCIA and Firewire adapters for the externally powered Zip 250. Either one also provided power to the drive. Firewire required a 6-pin port. The PCMCIA adapter was a connector on a cable, attached to the card. The Firewire adapter was in a housing that fit onto the rear of the drive and covered almost the whole back end. http://www.iomega.com/support/manuals/zip2u/inst_drive_pcm.html http://www.iomega.com/support/manuals/firewire/get_start.html Mystery solved! Now the info needs put into the article. Bizzybody (talk) 03:54, 12 December 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: More information and performance tests of the Zip 250 using different connections, VS a floppy drive and the Zip 250 SCSI. Firewire is significantly faster than the drive's built in USB while only slightly slower than the SCSI version. It doesn't say what the Zip 250 // is by the green bar. Is the PCMCIA card SCSI??? http://www.activewin.com/reviews/hardware/zip/zip250usb/features.shtml Bizzybody (talk) 04:48, 12 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Large connector on USB Zip 250 

message: The first model of the internal SCSI Zip 100 required a 5.25" half-height drive bay. Model Z100Si. Its circuit board was wider than the drive mechanism. It had a blue faceplate the same color as the external versions. It only supported SCSI ID 5 and 6, like the external version. Power connector was the same as for 3.5" floppy. I still have one, looking at it right now. My guess is this model was essentially the same as a prototype, rushed into production, with the external SCSI version a "shrink" to pack everything onto the smaller case. The 3.5" bay version soon followed and the 5.25" 'widebody' was discontinued. Front and top pics of this oddball drive at my Flickr page. Feel free to grab them for the article. http://www.flickr.com/photos/27748767@N08/ Bizzybody (talk) 04:29, 12 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  First model internal SCSI Zip 100 

message: Pictures of a torn disk edge, taken with the slide held open, and a drive with the heads ripped from their actuator arms would be useful illustrations of the cause of click of death and drive damage caused by damaged disks, and an explanation of the "contagion" of click of death caused by a damaged disk ripping heads loose then the ruined drive damaging good disks, which can then destroy other good drives. I saw several of both when I worked at a computer shop, but never took pictures. Bizzybody (talk) 04:44, 12 December 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Probably better placed in Click_of_death article which is already linked from this article.  Tom94022 (talk) 17:46, 12 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  The article needs click of death damage pictures. 

message: I don't think the new Popular Culture section is particularly notable and suggest it be stricken.  Any comments?  Tom94022 (talk) 04:39, 13 June 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Is new Popular Culture Section Notable 

message: I've added some data back about the Zip stickers that shipped with most drives.  I still have my original sheet which I could easily photograph if anyone would find it useful.  I also found a source to support the information (verified and added to page). This is perhaps a bit of trivia, but it was part of the overall Zip experience that made the drives unique, thus I feel it warrants being added.  Costner (talk) 19:02, 24 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I do recall Iomega's very successful "I am ..." campaign which included far more that just stickers - buttons, ad's, etc.  Nonetheless, I don't think stickers are particularly notable and this section should be stricken along with the not notable Popular Culture section.  Tom94022 (talk) 17:14, 25 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Zip Stickers 

message: I was told by tech support at FujiFilm many years ago that they developed the media for the Zip drives.  Can anyone verify this? Jayscore (talk) 17:09, 26 April 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Just Google "Fujifilm zip disk" and u will see that you can today buy such disks.  I seem to recall that Iomega's patent and copyright position necessitated a license for such media and that too can be Googled to confirm.  Tom94022 (talk) 20:06, 26 April 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  FujiFilm Connection? 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Zip Drive was so popular that in the mid 1990s, Iomega was worth more than General Motors-- something crazy like that. The Motley Fool wrote, Dec 16, 1999, 
in an article online called, "And Then There Was Light" that "In the fall of 1994, something revolutionary happened. Investors around the world met in one place online and began to piece together the complete business of one Utah company. The company's new product that they discussed hadn't even been released to the market yet. It hadn't been marketed. It was just rolling out of production. The company was Iomega (NYSE: IOM) and the product was, of course, its Zip drive, a simple portable data storage solution.... Within 13 months, the Fool's Iomega investment represented nearly half the portfolio's total value after having risen over 1,500%. The Zip drive became the best-selling computer peripheral device in history (a rank it still holds), with a million being sold every several weeks. Most major PC makers began to offer Zip drives in their "boxes." The possibility for a new data storage standard held strong. But not strong enough." First, they proved fragile; then the DVD killed them. But I remember the instant millionaires on paper, and near-hysterical financial articles about the Zip drive having "repealed the law of [stock market] gravity." The insane profits triggered the boom, then the first spectacular bust. This little bit of paleo-technology has an important social history. Profhum (talk) 00:58, 13 May 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: And we've seen similar play out repeatedly since, particularly with the dotcom bubble, and then Bitcoin. Any time you see a meteoric rise, and people saying it's a new investment paradigm... it's time to get extremely wary. Cash out half of whatever you've put in at the first sign of a significant falter, and if that isn't the sign of an actual crash and it soars much further, cash out at least half if not all of the rest at the next stumble. These things generally seem to follow the same old pattern, there's only so much money that can be sunk into them, only so much leeway the market is ever willing to give a disruptive new concept, and it always comes out that 90% of the value is blown up by bluster and mania. Once the culprits stop blowing (usually either because they've run out of cash to put in to it, or have seen that the market's about to turn anyway and so have themselves cashed out), the bubble collapses. Disinvesting by halves gives you at least a fair chance of not losing more than either half your initial capital, or missing out on more than half the potential gains, from falling into a bull or bear trap and seeing them as a sign to either cash out in full just before the actual boom, or to keep your full investment in something that's about to tank extremely hard. 51.7.49.27 (talk) 16:30, 16 September 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Needs something about the stock market bubble 

message: Jeppesen distributes navigation database updates, and Universal Avionics supplies TAWS, UniLink and Performance databases for upload into flight management systems via solid-state data transfer units.[12][13]  139.138.6.121 (talk) 09:20, 7 April 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: I looked at the sources and rewrote it to: "Zip disks were still in use in aviation as of 2012. Jeppesen distributed navigation database updates, and Universal Avionics supplies TAWS, UniLink and Performance databases for upload into flight management systems via 100 and 250 MB Zip disks." Knuthove (talk) 14:07, 7 April 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  What does this have to do with Zip? 

message: has asserted a series of incorrect dates in the info box for the discontinuance of ZIP.  It took a simple search of SEC records to invalidate the earlier assertions. There is no doubt that production of drives and discs was discontinued by Iomega at some date and sales at some later date thereafter but the information should not be added to the info box until there is a WP:RS and it first should be added to the text of the article.  Also note Iomega may have had licensees who continued production after Iomega discontinued.  FWIW apparently Fuji Film still makes and sells ZIP discs and they are available tomorrow. Please see e.g.:  Most manufacturers are reluctant to announce a discontinuance so you may have a hard time finding a RS. Tom94022 (talk) 20:34, 28 August 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Sorry for the late response, but those seem to be new old stock zip disks. Angelgreat (talk) 13:36, 7 October 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  The Fuji Zip discs are advertised as "new" so I am pretty sure they are and like most things they are shipped I suspect from channel inventory.  We don't know whether the inventory will or will not be replenished if and when the the channel inventory is depleted.  But the fact remains that at least new discs are currently available in the market so any statement about discontinuance of discs or drives has to be based in a [[WP:RS|reliable source] and qualified by the known current availability of discs.  I've looked for such RSes without success. Tom94022 (talk) 17:35, 7 October 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: 'New' in this context probably means that they have not previously been sold or used. It does not necessarily mean that they were manufactured recently. It is quite common to find stocks of 'new' (as in unused) devices that are actually quite old in terms of age (so called 'NOS' - for the oxymoronic 'new old stock'). There is so little demand for discs these days that it would not be worth while for Fuji to still make them. 86.158.241.251 (talk) 18:29, 27 December 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Date discontinued 

message: Why was it named the "Zip" drive? The article should state whether or not there is any relationship to Zip compression. cagliost (talk) 14:53, 3 May 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Zip compression was not provided with the Zip product announcement nor was it explicitly mentioned in the announcement literature. Absent a reliable source, any mention of Zip compression in context of the products naming would be pure speculation and inappropriate.  The article already has a header pointing to Zip compression which is sufficient. Tom94022 (talk) 17:18, 3 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Relationship to Zip compression