In This Article
What is Zip Drive?
A zip drive, also known as zip disk, refers to a specific hardware device that stores data and functions just like any regular 1.44-inch floppy drive or diskette but with thicker housing and better performance ability.
Technically, these magnetic disk storage systems signify a removable floppy disk storage system and often termed as a super floppy disk drive that offers the convenience and functionality of a floppy drive.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Zip drives work much in the same way as the CD and DVD drives but in place of CDs and DVDs, zip disks are used to store data.
- The Zip disks can store a large amount of data and the drive can transfer data at quite a fast rate between old and modern computers.
- Zip drives can be both external, that is to be plugged into the system through a cable or installed internally into the casing of the computer.
- These drives are very easy to use but ensure proper functioning of them and the zip disks there are some requirements to be met for compatibility.
- The design of the zip drives is simple and offers different interfaces and supports different operating systems as well.
Understanding Zip Drive
A zip drive is a magnetic disk storage solution of medium capacity. It is portable and was launched first by Iomega way back in the mid-1990s.
This storage system offers a lower cost per unit storage than the hard disks and can store larger amounts of data than a floppy disk.
These drives are able to transfer data fast and are quite reliable and durable.
Though the USB drives became a more favored option after their launch, the zip drives are not dead or out of contention.
The zip disk used in the zip drives uses a much smaller storage medium, about the size of a 9 cm microfloppy.
However, these are more rugged than the Bernoulli media that are of the size of a Compact Disc.
The simple design of the zip drives reduces the overall cost and they come in several different interfaces that may vary across generations such as:
- IDE True ATA
- ATAPI
- USB 1.1
- USB 2.0
- IEEE 1284 parallel port with printer pass-through
- IEEE 1394 FireWire
- SCSI and
- Plus.
The zip drives also supports different operating systems but may have specific requirements for that such as:
- DOS
- Microsoft Windows
- Few Linux versions or BSD
- Macintosh System 6.x, 7.1–7.5, 7.6–9.2
- Mac OS X
- Oracle Solaris 8, 9, 10, 11
- IBM OS/2
- IRIX 6.4 or higher
- NB 3
- RISC OS and
- AmigaOS 3.5 or higher.
At this point, it is good to know that you may face some compatibility issues while using a zip drive if the zip disk used in it is not of the similar capacity ability.
Though the higher capacity zip drives may read any lower capacity media but may write very slowly on it as compared to a lower capacity drive.
Also, software compatibility is necessary along with the operating system to ensure a long or thorough format on a lower capacity disk.
There are a few higher capacity zip drives, such as the 750 MB drive, that may come with only read-only support for lower capacity disks.
The retro-reflective spot actually prevents inserting any larger capacity zip disk into a smaller capacity zip drive.
If done, the disk will be ejected immediately without the zip drive making any effort to access it. However, the larger capacity zip disks do not have any such reflective spot.
Functions of a Zip Drive
A zip drive functions in pretty much the same way as the Compact Disc or Digital Versatile Disc drives with the only major difference being using a thicker zip disk in place of thinner CDs or DVDs.
The working of a zip drive is primarily based on the zip disk that is to be inserted into the slot.
To help in the read or write operations, there is an internal drive installed in the computer case directly just like an optical drive.
In these drives, there is a head that functions in just the same way as the read and write head in a hard disk drive.
The linear actuator even uses the same voice coil actuation technology as the modern hard disk drives.
If you are using an external zip drive, you will first need to connect it to the computer through a connector cable.
Usually, the zip drives use a parallel port connection and need a separate power supply to function.
The steps to follow include:
- Plugging in the drive
- Putting the disk in the external or internal drive
- Clicking the Start button
- Choosing ‘My computer’
- Double clicking on the zip drive and
- Opening the file you want by double clicking on it or right clicking on it first and clicking on ‘Open’ from the menu.
You can copy the file, open it to add fresh content and do what you want to do with it.
Windows can read Zip disks in different formats such as:
- FAT or File Allocation Table format
- NFTS or New Technology File System format
- exFAT or Extensible File Allocation Table format and
- FAT 32 formats.
Data travels at a high speed between the disk and the internal storage of the computer and vice versa.
Uses of Zip Drive
Zip drives can store large amounts of data and are convenient to use in vintage computers to backup files or download anything from a DOS rig. It can be used as an additional and portable backup solution.
Retro-computing enthusiasts also use the zip drives even today as a chosen method to transfer large amounts of data between a modern computer system and an older model.
Zip drives are also used by a small group of users in the music production community as well as in the aviation industry for transferring updated data to their navigation systems.
Where is Zip Drive in a Computer?
The zip drives initially could be connected to a computer system externally with the help of an SCSI or Small Computer System Interface, IDE or Integrated Development Environment or a parallel port.
The later models had USB or Universal Serial Bus interface to allow simple and fast connection and plug-n-play functioning. However, the larger versions are included internally into the device by some manufacturers.
Therefore, a zip drive can be found both internally installed in a computer or externally to be plugged into the system to use.
Is Zip Drive a Storage System?
Yes, a zip drive is a removable disk storage system built to be used in computers and introduced way back in the mid-1990s. It is much similar to DVD drives but in it zip disks are inserted.
Is There Any Other Word for Zip Drive?
Commonly, a zip drive is known as a zip disk. This storage and retrieval device is also known by several other names such as disk drive, floppy disk drive, hard disk drive, tape drive, removable drive, and Winchester drive.
Conclusion
That is just about all you need to know about zip drives. Hope you now are more knowledgeable about the storage system, thanks to this article, which can be another alternative solution for your storage needs.
Knowing the uses and its functions, you can easily determine whether or not it will serve your needs.