Iomega

• Iomega was the company that introduced the zip drive to the world in 1994. At the time, the technology of the zip drive was considered revolutionary because it increased the mobile data storage ability available at the time to 100MB of storage, where floppy disks could only hold 10MB at their height. Soon after, the Zip Drive was updated to 250MB, and then integrated with USB capability at the beginning of USB technology, which allowed zip drive disks and drives to be transferred to other computers easily. A competitor of the zip drive, the Jazz Drive, was brought out by Apple, but it didn't last long.
  
  

Bernoulli Box

• This Bernoulli Box was created by Iomega in 1984. The box was a cartridge-based unit that used hard drive technology available at the time. The Bernoulli Box was used to move large files from one computer to another before the age of networks or other alternative methods had arrived. These units allowed for storage from 5MB up to 230MB and resembled box-like hard drives.
  
  

CD Drives

• Compact discs are not newer than zip drives. In fact, CDs were introduced in 1984 as a way to play music and movies on various formats. These original discs were large by comparison to today's CDs (roughly the size of a 32-inch record). Their storage capacity was about 550MB. CDs were expensive and therefore not widely used at the time. Eventually CDs would become the much smaller versions we use today, and their storage capacity rapidly increased to 700MB. The CD quickly replaced the zip drive as computer hardware changed, making the floppy disk obsolete by the end of the 20th century.
  
  

"Click of Death"

• The "Click of Death" was a common problem with Zip Drives throughout their use. For unknown reasons Zip Drives would break down, causing the disk within them to become useless. Any information stored on a zip disk would be lost. When a user heard a series of clicks, usually when the drive was attempting to access data on the disk, it would signal the beginning of the end for the drive. This could happen in minutes or weeks; but would be inevitable. Many complaints, and legal actions, were filed against Iomega because of this failure.
  
  

Modern Day

• As of 2009 there are still zip drives being manufactured by EMC, which now owns Iomega, but their use has become more historic than practical. The company offers little information on zip drives, and sells more modern removable storage devices alongside the zip drive.