Zip drives

[Real Rookie]

Hi. As my name implies, I am just starting out with computers. I have a slight problem with zip drives. My computer doesn't have one, but at school, we need zips disks for class. I've been told they are becoming obsolete. Do I just eat the cost of the zip disks, or should I spend the money and buy a drive? In class, I can just reformat but I can't do anything at home. Are external zip drives more expensive? If I do buy one, how much should I spend? I could use a zip disk for storage at home but it all depends on the cost and availability. Thanks.

[HyperTF]

Is that all your school supports? might be worth asking them if USB sticks can be used. If you are not familiar with a USB stick they are these very compact little things like the size of your thumb which can store a mass of information... I just bought one a few weeks ago which stores 512MB and it is excellent, considering a standard floppy disk holds just 1.44MB these things are a gem. They plug into your computers' USB port and Windows XP auto detects them and usually they are supplied with software so they can be used with Windows 98 Operating systems. You just have to remember to disable them before disconnecting them (via an icon your system tray where the clock is which appears when it is in use)
I would be reluctant to buy a ZIP drive personally for the reasons you said, but I guess at the end of the day, if your school insists then you might not have much choice. As I said, I would ask. You might get them interested in a better option in my opinion!! :D

Edit: Oh and welcome by the way :)

[HyperTF]

I just took this quick snap! :rolleyes:
http://neilk.customer.netspace.net.au/usb.jpg

[mc2phat]

If your school has 250 or 100 mb zip drives/disks, you could score a 100 or 250 meg drive from eBay for cheap. As cheaply as 20 bucks shipped. A lot of sellers include disks with the drive. if they're the newer 750 meg drives, they're still expensive. You can't write to the 100 mb disks with a 750 drive I believe.
Let us know what size Zip drives/disks you're dealing with, maybe someone here could hook you up with one. I have a zip 100 parallel external laying around I'm not using.

[Real Rookie]

The disks I have are 100s. What would you ask for your drive? Where are you?

[mc2phat]

Check your PM.

[kingoftowns]

try the usb flash drives my school let me use them and then you can use them after the class is over they are really handy. dont waste any money on zips if you dont have to