Zip was a high-capacity floppy disk format introduced in 1995 by Iomega, with disk that were slightly larger than the 3.5-inch microfloppy disk.
It was initially available with 100 MB capacity, with 250 MB and 750 MB versions becoming available later. Higher-capacity drives can read lower-capacity disks. The disks had a retroreflective spot that allowed that drive to recognise the capacity of the disk, and eject it if it was of a higher capacity than the drive.
The drives were available as internal or external drives, with a variety of interfaces.
Zip drives sold well initially due to the low price and high capacity for the time, and were a cheaper alternative to SyQuest disks. In 1998, a class action lawsuit was filed against Iomega over a type of Zip drive failure dubbed the ‘click of death’.
After 1999 sales declined due to the falling cost of CD-R and CD-RW disks, followed by USB flash drives, and the Zip 100 was discontinued in 2004, with the Zip 250 and Zip 750 being discontinued in 2006.
The Zip brand was also used for CD-R drives.
Dimensions: 99 mm × 97.8 mm × 6.5 mm
Capacity: 100 MB