7. Zip Disks

Zip disks are pretty much obselete now. However, they were very popular as a backup medium before CD-RWs were developed and became cheap enough for everyone to use.

Zip disks look similar to a floppy disk but are a little bit thicker.

Computers generally didn't come with a zip drive installed, so you couldn't just use one in the same way as a floppy disk. You needed a seperate plug in drive, which was an extra expense.

They can store around 100Mb of data - 70 times more than a floppy disk.

Advantages

• Stores more data than a floppy disk
• Compresses data, reducing the file size, so more data can be stored
• Portable

Disadvantages

• Almost obselete now
• Need a seperate zip drive to read the disk
• More expensive than floppy disks