Today, portable storage media are common.External SSDs, microSD cards, USB sticks—we all have one (or several) of those.They're no longer seen as revolutionary products, but the Zip drive was one … for a time.
Unfortunately, that success was short-lived.Zip drives solved a real problem that floppies couldn't fix They were fantastic—for a while.Compared to modern hardware, Iomega's Zip drive looks a bit like a huge portable HDD.
When Iomega introduced the Zip drive in 1995, it hit a sweet spot of capacity per dollar, bridging a gap between other popular options.At the time, there weren't that many options for transferring files.Floppy disks and email were the primary methods for moving data, but they came with a problem.
In 1994, 5.25-inch floppies had practically vanished, replaced by the 3.5-inch floppy.These devices had a maximum storage capacity of around 1.44MB.The Zip drive was a massive boost by comparison.
The initial version could store up to 100MB, while later versions saw 250MB and then 750MB sizes.In addition, it offered minimum transfer speeds of around 50kB/s (roughly three times the speed of a floppy disk) and an average seek time of just 29ms.But what about email? At the time, most email attachments topped out at 1MB and were primarily text-based.
Although MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) launched in 1993 and allowed non-text-based attachments, the typical internet infrastructure couldn't support larger attachments.Email attachments had a low cap, but the connections were slow, too.Most users connected through dial-up, and even the fastest modems could only transfer data at around 14.4k-28.8k.
Even now, many email servers restrict attachment size to 25MB or lower.Given how useful they were, Zip drives were also relatively inexpensive.At launch, a drive with a 100MB cartridge could be had for just under $200, and additional 100MB cartridges were just $20.
As a result, the Zip drive filled a real gap in the market, outpacing both alternatives in a big way—but that didn't last long.The short-lived success of Zip drives They got pushed out of the market not long after they became popular.For several years, Zip drives were the go-to solution for backing up important data (and sometimes, even entire hard drives).
They also played a large role in transferring files between different devices, especially if those files were larger than average or a less commonly used type.Their dominance was also aided by the fact that Zip drives worked on both PCs (via parallel ports) and Macintosh, aka Macs (via SCSI connectors).But in tech, nothing really lasts forever.
If you feel like you haven't seen Zip drives for a hot minute (or maybe even ever), that's not unexpected.These drives commanded a large part of the market, but only until the late '90s.Sales began to decline, dropping steadily until the early '00s when Zip drives were all but defunct, replaced by more affordable options like CD-R.
The relatively high cost-per-megabyte of Zip drives couldn't compare with the larger storage capacities afforded by CDs and DVDs, as well as the introduction of multi-gig drives.Even the pro version of Zip drives couldn't save them Jaz drives weren't the solution.One failure pushed Zip drives off the map After the success of the initial Zip drive, Iomega developed a more advanced version that it dubbed the Jaz drive.
These began shipping in late 1995 with up to 1GB per disk; in 1998, a 2GB model was released.The Jaz drive was marketed as a much higher-capacity version of the original Zip drive, but it didn't see the same level of success as its predecessor, largely because the Zip drive targeted the lower-end market.By positioning it as a high-end product, Iomega limited the reach of the Jaz drive.
It also used an SCSI interface—a connection that, while common in Apple computers, was much less common in PCs.For many PC users, using an SCSI connection meant installing an additional interface card, adding to the required upfront cost of the Jaz drive.By the time the 2GB version of the Jaz drive hit the market, the costs of other storage formats were dropping.
That played a part in them falling out of favor, but the reliability issues were what really sealed the deal.The Click of Death was the final nail in the coffin.Multiple factors played a role in Zip drives' decline, but this stands out as perhaps the finishing blow: a Delaware state court class-action suit filed in 1998.
It was all about the “Click of Death,” as it was dubbed at the time, which signaled the failure or impending failure of a drive.How-To Geek Report: Subscribe and never miss what matters Unlock your tech-savvy potential and master the digital world with How-To Geek.Subscribe By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
You can unsubscribe anytime.This clicking noise plagued too many Zip and Jaz drives.Inside the drive, the read/write heads sit on an arm that moves back and forth.
This operated much like the needle on a record player, but on a much smaller scale.When not in use, drives were designed to return to the default position to be cleaned and recalibrated.The drive would also return to this position if it encountered an error.
The clicking sound indicated that the head had become misaligned.Depending on the drive, it might have attempted to reposition the head numerous times, resulting in repeated clicks.By the time this sound was heard, the drive was usually too far gone to be saved.
Iomega claimed that fewer than 1% Zip and Jaz drive users were affected by the issue, but the company settled the lawsuit in April 2001 and offered up to $40 in rebates for various products.The Zip drive was a big deal in the '90s, but like many tech products back in those days, it faded into obscurity in the blink of an eye.CDs and DVDs dealt a blow to it that was too hard to recover from.
These days, portable SSDs and USB sticks are the equivalent of the Zip drive.
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