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Zip drive facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

A Zip drive is a special device used to save and store computer files. It's like a super-sized floppy disk drive, but it holds much more information. The company Iomega first released the Zip drive in late 1994.

What is a Zip Drive?

A Zip drive is a type of data storage device. It uses special disks, called Zip disks, to save your computer files. Think of it as a portable hard drive from the past!

Storing Data: Disk Sizes

When Zip drives first came out, they could only use disks that held 100 MB of data. That was a lot back then! Over time, newer Zip drives and disks were made. These could hold even more information.

Later versions supported 250 MB and 750 MB disks. Eventually, some Zip disks could store 1 GB or even 2 GB of data.

It's important to use the right disk with the right drive. A Zip disk with a lot of storage space needs a drive that can handle that much data. Usually, newer drives can read older, smaller disks. However, writing data to a 100 MB disk might be a bit slower if you use a 250 MB Zip drive instead of a 100 MB one.

Connecting to Your Computer

Zip drives connect to computers in different ways. Some Zip drives were built inside computers. These are called internal drives. They used special connections like IDE or SCSI to talk to the computer.

Other Zip drives were external, meaning they plugged into the outside of your computer. These external drives could use SCSI, parallel port, or USB connections. USB was a very popular way to connect them, making them easy to use.

How Zip Disks Look

Zip disks look a lot like the old 3.5 " (9 cm) floppy disks. However, Zip disks are a bit thicker. Even though they are thicker, the slot on a Zip drive is just the right size. This means it could accidentally fit a regular floppy disk, but you wouldn't use it that way!

Images for kids

  • Iomega-100-Zip-Drive

    A 100 MB ZIP drive

  • Iomega-100-MB-ZIP-disk

    A 100 MB ZIP disk

  • Internal zip drive inside computer

    An internal Zip drive installed in a computer

  • Zip 100 disk

    The Zip disk media

  • ZipDrives

    Later (USB, left) and earlier (parallel, right) Zip drives (media in foreground).

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Unidad Zip para niños

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Zip drive Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.