Obsolete (Zip Drive) and Emerging (Flash

Drive)Technologies

Walden UniversityEmerging Technology

EDUC 7108-1By: Vickie P. Murphy

Obsolete Technology Part 1

• Zip disks – A removable disk from Iomega that comes in

100MB, 250MB, and later 750MB.– Reads all but only write to the 250MB disk.– Could not hold a lot of information.– Able to hold more student files than the floppy

disk .– Met the needs of the community college at the

time.

Obsolete Technology Part 2

• Zip disks – It could not hold all the information for the

student files for various classes.– It was not easy to transfer information except you

had a zip drive.– Zip disk did not come with the computer and

students had to purchase them separately.– The cost of a zip drive was costly for some

students.

Emerging Technology – Part 1• USB Drive

– Connect up to 127 peripheral devices such as keyboards, modems, and mice.

– Completely replace serial and parallel ports.– Plug and Play installation and hot swapping.

• Can plug in a device without turning off the computer.

– USB devices can plug into any computer.– Sizes from 32MB to 128GB

Resources:http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/UBS.htmlhttp://newdriverupdate.com

Emerging Technology – Part 2• What makes the USB something I

want to integrate in my organization.– When it can meet the benefits of

the students, Instructors and other departments.

• The function that the USB fills.– Being able to use the flash drive in

any computer and take it anywhere that you go.

– Able to store a lot of information.

Tetrad for Obsolete Technology – Zip Disk

Everyone wants to save files

Obsoletes the floppy disk

Reverses into more space

Retrieves the ability to save more information

Zip Disk

•Zip Disk was good for saving pictures and student exercises using only one disk without taking up a lot of space on the drive.• Zip disk obsolete the floppy disk. Floppy disk only had 1.44MB and students had to use 1-6 floppy disks to do their work. • Reverse in students being able to store more information and having to buy a zip disk to use at home.• Zip Disk was 100 MB, 250 MB and 750 MB. Able to save more files and pictures. Reference Retrieved September 15, 2010 from http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid5_gci869057,00.html

Tetrad for Emerging Technology – USB Drive

• Plugs into any computer and recognized by Windows immediately. While the computer is running you can plug and unplug a USB.• Does not require rebooting, batteries, external power supply and not platform dependent.• USB ports can connect many different type of devices into the computer. USB hubs allow connection of several different devices at once. Can be used to connect up to 127 peripheral devices such as keyboards, scanners, and mice.• A flash drive sizes ranges from 32MB to 128GB. They can hold from14 photos to 60948.

Reference Retrieved September 15, 2010 from http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid5_gci869057,00.html

Plug and Play Obsoletes the Zip Drive

Reverses into four or more ports

Retrieves storing capacity for 256 MB to 1 GB

USB DriveUSB Drive

Interviews

• Margaret Chance, Continuing Education Coordinator, Instructor

• Bambi Edwards, Director Technology Services/NCCIA Scholarship Chair

• Karen Baker, Former student at Craven Community College– Request not to be video or recorded

Interview Questions1. Did you use a zip drive?2. Do you feel that it met your needs?3. How do you feel about the Zip drive?4. Why was it replaced and do you think that it

was a good choice?5. How do you feel about using USB Drives?6. Do you think that the school made a good

decision to obsolete the Zip Drive?7. Do you think that the school made a good

decision replacing the zip with the USB?

Interview Results – Part I• Those that are interviewed did not want to be

on audio or video so I summarized their responses.– Each agreed that they used a zip drive.– It met their needs and the needs of the students.– Students were encouraged to buy the zip drive.– The zip drive was replaced with USB Drives. USB can

store more information, more flexible, sturdy, and transportable. You can take it everywhere that you go and plug it into any USB port.

– The USB is high capacity is small space and compatible with all computers

Interview Results – Part II• Those that are interviewed did not want to be on

audio or video so I summarized their responses.– The school made a good decision to obsolete the zip

drive and replace it with the USB Drive.– It saves the school and students money.– It has the space that students need to save files for

their classes and it can be used for years.

Economics plays a big role. When something is new, better, reliable and reasonable priced; it serves not just the school better, but our students.

Six Forces: Evolutionary Technologies on the Zip Disk Original Emergence

• Evolutionary technology are useful for explaining the reason the zip drive originally emerged as a new technology.– Created for improving storage capacity for computer

users to store files from a single computer or network.

– Considered revolutionary because of the increased mobile data storage ability available at the time to 100MB of storage where the floppy could hold 10MB.

– Eliminated the large amount of floppy disks to store information (Waverly, 2009).

Six Forces: Evolutionary Technologies on Obsolete Technology – Zip Drive Part 1

• Evolutionary technologies are useful for explaining the zip drive becoming obsolete due to the flash drives.– A memory stick on a keychain that can hold form

64MB to 64GB.– Flash drives are affordable, holds lots of memory

and there is no place for a zip drive (“Askville”).– Zip disks was eventually rendered obsolete for the

home computing market.

Six Forces: Evolutionary Technologies on Obsolete Technology – Zip Drive Part II

• Evolutionary technologies are useful for explaining the zip drive becoming obsolete due to the flash drives.– Zip disk had a dark secret: it had a problem called “click of

death”.– The zip disk head would become dirty ripping up the edges

of the diskette causing permanent damage to the disk and sometimes the drive. It made a clicking sound as the data was permanently scrubbed away.

– This was found out by many the hard way.– The disk was poorly constructed and the problem was

corrected adequately. Iomega was taken to court because of this and the problem became national (Dotree, 2006).

Six Forces: Evolutionary Technologies on Emerging Technology - USB

• Why evolutionary technologies are useful to explain why the USB drive replaced the Zip Drive.– USB drives date is impervious to being damaged,

scratched or smudged.– They are extremely robust and strong.– When made properly the data on a USB will last 50

years.– Some flash drives can withstand water when

dropped in water (Trembath).

Six Forces: Rhymes of History on Obsolete Technology’s Original Emergence – Zip Disk• Rhymes of history was useful in explaining the reason the zip disk

originally emerged as new technology.• Limited storage limit and slow transfer of speed of the floppy disk made it hard to

transfer files between computers.• The first zip drive emerged in 1994.• Offered the storage capacity of hard drives and portability of floppy drives.• Stored files that were too large for floppy disks.• 100MB zip disk could hold 70 floppy disks.• In its day the zip disk was a revolutionary product that offered technology no other

company could match (Humphrey, 2010).

Six Force: Rhymes of History on Obsolete Technology and Emerging Technology

• Old Technology – Zip Disk – Never a popular device for

data storage.– From 1999 to 2003 zip drives

began to plummet due to USB, DVD+RW, and CD-R cost and large capacity (“What is a Zip Drive “).

– Large, expensive, and not a viable option for computer users.

– Increase competition with greater capacity and depended on less expensive media began to decline in 1999 (Humphrey, 2010).

• New Technology - USB– Trek Technology and IBM

started selling flash drives commercially in 2000.

– Transport and store large files.

– Uses little power, no fragile moving parts, and small and light.

– Read and write without installing device drivers (“Wikipedia”).

Six Forces: Disruptive Technology on Obsolete Technology’s Original Emergence• Obsolete Technology’s

Original Emergence – Zip Disk– Replaced the floppy disk– Reasonable price– Thicker than a floppy– Retroreflective spot to help

the drive identify the disk as the proper media

– Transfer data quickly– Not a popular device for

data storage

• Disruptive Technology on Obsolete Technology– USB with large capacities– Less cost– Decrease cost of DVD’s

& CD’s (wisegeek)– Non-existence of parallel

ports– Growth of hard drives

(Roche)

Six Forces: Disruptive Technology on Emerging Technology

• Emergence of USB– Enables huge convenience– Ease for users– Carry and store large amounts of data– Immense speed in sharing data– Write and erase data at a very high speed– Mobile and can keep in pocket (Daniel)

Six Forces: Science Fiction on Obsolete Technology’s Original Emergence

• Science fiction was not useful in explaining the reason the zip disk originally emerged as a new technology.– Did not see anything that triggered the

imagination of inventors.

Six Forces: Science Fiction on USB (Jump Drive)

• Novel “Forever Man” (1984) starships used jump drives to make vehicles omnipresent

• Star Wars Series used this technology referred to as “hyperspace”.

• Stargate film used two jump drives to travel from one point to another many light years apart (wikipedia).

Six Forces: Increasing Returns on Obsolete Technology’s Original Emergence

• There was not another innovation that came out at the same time as the zip drive.

• It became obsolete because something better and less expensive came out.

Six Forces: Increasing Returns on Emerging Technology

• I found no increase returns on emerging technology for the flash drive.

• It seems to be the only innovation for this type of storage in 1998.

Six Forces: Red Queens on Obsolete Technology’s Original Emergence

• Red Queens are useful for the zip disk to originally emerge as a new technology.

• Floppy disk vs. zip drive– Both the same size– Both used to save and send electronic data– Zip disk more responsible and faster than floppy– Floppy disk slow, low data capacity, and unreliable

Six Forces: Red Queens on Obsolete TechnologyUseful why zip disk became obsolete

• Zip drive– Installation of software

is required for zip drive– Disk storage ranges from

64mb to 250 mb– Some are sensitive to

movement– Should not be stored

near magnetic objects

• USB– Plugs directly in the USB

drive– Do not need software to

install– Plastic casing does not

get broken and stay dry– Memory storage of 1-4

gb (Owens)

Six Forces: Red Queens on Emerging Technology

• Red Queen was not useful in the emergence of the USB– No huge competition in the process– No competitors left behind– No two technologies trying to achieve the same or

similar goal– Everything else is not falling aside (Thornburg,

2008).

Speculation on the Future of USB DrivesPart 1

• USB is interconnectable, not easy to bend or break, and easy to connect. It hosting itself when paired with another USB device.

• The future (or next) is the USB 3.0 standard that will work at 4.8 gbps– Power conservation features– Increase speed and better power consumption– 15 minutes to copy a 27gb high definition film

(Goddard).

Speculation on the Future of USB DrivesPart II

• I do not believe that this technology will end up in the supply closet due to its high performance, speed, save large files and can carry it around.

• At this time I do not see any technology to obsolete the USB. I believe that it will always be around, smaller and better.