Zip Drives

[stiltman]

I have a zip 100 and haven't used it in about a year (in my P166 comp)
Do you have one?
If yes, who often do you use it?

[poopyhead]

for storing data files at work...yes, i do use it quite often..as zips are convient way to transfer files b/w comps....

however, they're not very reliable..so most of the important data is stored on DVD-RAM

otherwise, for personal....nope...

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those SuperDrives were better..as they were backwards compatible with 1.44 MB diskettes...but they faded away like Beta.

[EddyH]

got one when it was 1/2way new (like, when it had just become affordable, but wasn't super cheap).. was pretty good at the time, seeing as we had like 8 discs, and a 500mb hard disc, could do a full backup and have external storage to spare.

Gradually use of it wound down, and after getting CD writer it's use for permanent storage stopped almost instantly. All 'permanent' files on the remaining zipdisks were transferred to a couple of CDRs where they still reside.. Use in data transfer carried on a good couple years more, even got an internal drive (from Godknowswhere), used it as a boot drive (!) on an old leftovers computer, swapped files back and forth between machines before CDRs/CDRWs became cheap enough to be throwaway spindled items (rather than being bought specially - and individually - for a pre-planned project or major backup), and finally saw service transferring files back and forth between my PC and the university computers when I didn't have a LAN hookup, and they didn't have CD burners or even very good CDROMs.

And over the past year (when I got the LAN), it hasn't been used at all. It's a tech whose time came and has now passed - Memory cards are arguably catching it up close enough as makes no real difference, and when I've got a packet-formatted 10x CDRW or two, why would I need a (highly incompatible) Zip750, much less a (bugtastic) 250 or (a.n.c.i.e.n.t... slow.. small.. failure-prone... but still the most trustworthy) even a 100?? The extra couple of seconds loading & spin-up makes little real difference.
Funny thing is that I still use the floppy drive from time to time when can't be bothered to sort out a CD for sub-5mb transfers... did it today even. And I can still remember the *real* capacity of a Zip100 ... 95.7mb, or about 97,500kb, or 100,400,000-odd bytes.

To close Zip's eulogy, it must be said - no drive before or since had such a satisfyingly solid feel to it's loading and eject system, and a nice (if loud) motor/head noise. Click.. clunk-chik-whirrrrr.. (beware the chi-chik, clunk, chi-chik, clunk noises!!)

[jeex]

i traded 16mb of memory for a 100mb variety extrernal (parallel port, ugh) zip drive..

i had to return it 3 times to the manufacturer because of the infamous "click of death"..

not only was the drive slow as ****, it went out constantly..

back when 100mb was 150mb less than the amount of hard drive space i had, it was a good thing.. except for the slowness/clickofdeath..

i used to think it was so cool to be able to put the windows 95 install files on a zip disk..

i used to steal zip disks from walmart because they were so damned expensive.. something like $40 for 6 or something. ( i was like 15 or 16)

i'm glad those days are gone..

i hope the zip drive is clicking in hell right now.

[stiltman]

i used to steal zip disks from walmart because they were so damned expensive.. something like $40 for 6 or something.

figures

[Craig Tucker]

Got one in my home and work PC, used to use it a lot more for transferring files between home and work, I tend to use a USB memory stick for that role now though.

[Gees]

Used one in an old PC before I had a CD writer. Was fine while it lasted, but mine also died the horrible Click Death.

If I just want a short-term stash to move between PCs I use a USB stick. I use 2 of those - one for quick transfers and one w/ built-in MP3 player.

Larger files & long-term storage = CDs.

[hoyboy]

Had one at work used for backing up each day- The old 100MB one. It was unreliable and everything, but 1000 times better than using 15 floppies to back up, taking half an hour!. This thing did it in 5 minutes.

[pbhalerao]

I use it quite often to transfer files from office PC to home PC. Haven't had a failure as yet. So if and when it occurs, I will find a better solution such as a memory card.

[pixel]

I used to have a Zip drive, although it died on me once. I thought it was a geat idea but the discs were pretty expensive, and when CD-R drives were affordable I kind of phased it out. I remember getting quite a few disks stuck in the drive because it liked to cut out on me during the middle of a back up.

Now I use CD-R's and DVD-R's because of their cost and the fact that I can make two backups of something onto two CD-R's (in case one decides it doesn't want to work) and it will still not cost me anywhere near as much as one zip disc.

[rallynavvie]

I used to own a SCSI ZIP100 back when my Performa 640CD was new. It had a 500MB hard drive so I used the ZIPs for backups and storage. Since widespread use of CD burners was a few years away I never did hook that Mac up to a burner. The only problem was when I went off to school the SCSI interface wouldn't work with my crappy Dell laptop that I was required to lease. So it went into storage with the Performa.

My latest job has lots of ZIP drives for file transferring since most are under 250MB. So I decided it would be a handy thing to have again so I bought the USB-powered ZIP250 drive that's out now. The media is still obscenely expensive at near $10 a disk, but it's more convenient than having to burn or re-burn a CD for a 200MB file. It's also USB powered so a lot more portable (good company for my new laptop). With USB flash drives coming down in price and going up in storage size I may just switch to that. Have you seen the new 1GB MemorySticks?