Yes, I have used a vacuum sanding pad with a regular shop vac. But I first run the vacuum through a water filter. This is a 5 gallon pail with water and hose attachments. Works great, the dust becomes mud at bottom of the pail.

If you haven’t already scraped the popcorn, I have an incredibly easy solution.

Hit the garden department and grab a cheap one-gallon pump sprayer. Fill sprayer with water (I usually start with warm, but it cools and still works.) Spray the ceiling and the area that you can safely reach from your ladder and allow to sit for a few minutes. I then use a 6” joint knife and my mud pan and scrape at about a 30* angle with the pan directly beneath the leading edge of the knife blade.

When the pan is filled, I dump it into a plastic grocery sack (they’re free and the weight of the wet popcorn makes using a contractor bag too heavy). When you’re done dumping the pan, spray another section and reposition your ladder.

I’ve used this method for years. It’s the fastest and cleanest method I have found.

Hope this helps.

I doubt it but I have never dealt with popcorn ceilings. I think the “popcorn pieces” are too big. I generally see people wet the ceiling and then scrape off that texture.

A regular shop vac would work but the filter will get clogged quickly with the drywall dust. A cyclone attachment would fix that.