Zip drives revolutionized portable storage in the 1990s by offering significantly higher capacity (starting at 100MB) and faster speeds than traditional floppy disks, becoming popular with users and PC manufacturers like Dell and Apple. However, reliability issues known as the “click of death,” combined with the rise of cheaper and more versatile formats like CDs and USB flash drives, led to the rapid decline and eventual disappearance of Zip drives from the market by the early 2000s.
https://www.xda-developers.com/zip-drives-dominated-90s-vanished-almost-overnight/