Likewise, I still like & use the zip disks with a couple of the older computers. Anything from the scanner is via zip since my external cd drive died a few yrs back. And one of the mac G4's dvd drive also died last year.
I've never known a zip drive to burn out, but I guess it depends perhaps if it's internal or external (for cooling, etc.) My two ext. zip drives are over 10 yrs old now. But they don't get turned on very often now.
More actually. Also a couple 1 TB ext drives & a handful between 160, 200, 250(2) & 300 MB. Obviously video requires more for backup.
The 160 was always unreliable, was not until 15 mths after purchase I realised I could & should have taken it in for a replacement after speaking to support.