I bought a iomega Zip Drive to transfer data to my LCIII. I followed the instructions of the iomega manual and no luck. Overtime I start macintosh 7.5 at my LCIII no iomega zip drive icon is displayed at my desktop. The manual says that it should be 'Disk Tools 4.3' I have the disk inserted but no luck. The zip drive seems to work. GUC232AWindowsv1.0.085.zip (7.32 MB) Mac OS 10.9.x Mac OS 10.10 Mac OS 10.11 Mac OS 10.12 (Sierra) Mac OS 10.13 (High Sierra) MAC OS 11x (Big Sur) Driver: 1.6.4: 11.
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Using A Zip Drive On A MacPlus
- I have the same problem with a brand-new Mac mini using OS X version 10.5.5: after I insert a Zip disk into my external USB Zip 250 drive, it spins and clicks a number of times, then spins a while without clicking, and finally stops-but no icon for it ever appears on the screen, and it is never shown in the 'toolbar' on the left side of the.
- Download iomega storage manager for free. System Tools downloads - Shining Mac External Hard Drive Data Recovery by ShiningSoft and many more programs are available for instant and free download.
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 03:18:29+0000
Click on the Device, then Driver tab, choose Roll Back if available. If not then choose Uninstall, restart PC to reinstall driver. If no newer or this doesn't help, then go to the USB category in Device Manager, open each Enhanced, Hub and Host controller, from Driver tab select Roll back if available, or if.
Subject: Re: zip drive on plus
From: 'Michael A. Peters'<moonglue@141.com>
To:Steve.scaysbrook@btinternet.com
These are my experiences with a Zip Driveand a Plus-
1) A zip drive makes a very stable HD for aPlus, I know people who have been using them as a bootable HD forYEARS (yes, YEARS) with only occasional problems that Norton hasfixed (BTW, I've had to use Norton on my new G3 HD
Once, so I don't see this as a zipproblem)
2) You need to use an Iomega Driver olderthan version 5.x. Otherwise you get a sad Mac when booting. You alsocan NOT allow your zip disk to be loaded in a machine with a 5.xdriver, 'cause part of the driver will update itself, and give a sadMac when booting with a zip disc in the drive.
Iomega Zip Driver Mac
3) The best thing to do, in my opinion, isget a small (cheap) SCSI HD for your plus, put SSW on it, includingyour Iomega driver. I use a 30MB myself. Boot off of the HD with nozip disc in the zip drive, insert zip disc after booting. The zipdisk can now be used as a non-boot volume, which also makes backingup files easier onto a second zip disc. (hint: only keep SSW on yourboot HD- this leaves plenty of room for transferring backups from zipto HD to back-up zip, less disk swapping)
This will work regardless of whether or notyour zip driver has been polluted with a 5.x system. Note- if yourdriver has been polluted (like the one on my Plus) you MUST boot withno zip disk in the zip drive. That's why I say it's best to boot froma small HD, because you don't have to worry about what computer yourZip Disk is used in.
Iomega Zip Tools Driver 5.01 For Mac Os
If you need it, I can send you a copy of the4.2 driver and tools. Please note that my particular 4.2 extension ispolluted, and can not be used to make a boot disk. I do know a friendwho has been more careful with his driver, and his can be used (andis used) to boot a Plus from a zip, if you really want to take thatroute.
Note- this driver update thing was a VERYbad feature on Iomega's part! I know of one case where an individualwith a Performa had the 4.2 driver and zip tools. he used his zipdisc in a Mac with a 5.1 driver, went home and used it in hisPerforma. The next time he booted, he put his zip disc in thePerforma before booting, had no problems- until he tried to use hiszip tools! he got a nasty message saying he couldn't use his tools'cause they were too old for his driver! As it turns out, he couldonly use his tools if he boots with no zip disc in the drive. BecauseIomega thought they were so smart, he had to upgrade his Iomega stuffto consistently use his drive the way had been using it no problembefore.
Recently I got bitten by the bug and onceagain am a zealot for the plus- For some odd reason, I've decided todo whatever I can to help make these wonderful machines as useful aspossible.
QuickInstructions
- Create a SSW 6.0.8 boot disk with the Iomega 4.2 driver installed.
- With Plus powered off, Zip Drive powered off, attach the Zip Drive to the SCSI chain. Make sure the zip drive termination is set to 'on' if it is the LAST device in the chain- set to 'off' if other devices are AFTER zip drive.
- Power on all items on the SCSI chain.
- Power on Plus, booting from the floppy. Your Zip Disk should NOT be inserted in the drive yet.
- Insert the Zip Disk- it *should* mount.
- Select 'Erase Disk' from the Special menu. This will properly format the disk for use with a Plus.
- Install System Software on to the Zip Disk.
- Place the Iomega 4.2 Driver into the System Folder (SSW 6.0.8) or the Extensions Folder (SSW 7.x).
- You *should* now have a bootable Iomega Zip Disk!
NOTE: The above procedure WILL NOTwork if your zip disk is PC format- Iomega Tools are required if youhave a PC format Zip Disk, and Iomega Tools does not work on aPlus.
IMPORTANT UPDATE! Iomega justreleased a new 250MBIomega Zip Drive. I do not know ifthis drive will work with the Macintosh Plus. I supspect thatif it does- the 250MB Zip Disks would not work, for the simplereason that I do not think the Iomega 4.2 Driver will work with thesedisks. I'll post more info on this new drive and the Plus when I knowmore.
Nitty GrittyInformation
There are numerous rumors related to gettinga zip drive working with a Plus. I will be looking into this issueand trying to resolve it- trying as best as I can to seperate factfrom fiction. Results will be posted here.
The Rumors
- The Iomega Zip Drive does not work with the Plus
- False- At least with some Plus's, the Iomega Zip Drive works with the 4.2 driver/tools and I've heard with the 4.3 also.
- The Iomega Zip Drive only works with a Macintosh Plus if you have ROM version 3 in the Plus
- Don't know, really don't think so. My Plus does have the version 3 ROM chip in it- I hope to soon be able to test the version 1 and version 2 ROM chips with the 4.2 driver and see if they work. For the record, I have NEVER seen a Plus where a zip drive didn't work- so either I've only seen ROM v3 Plus's tried, or the rumor is false. I will find out.
- The zip disk can not be used as a boot disk for a Plus.
- False. I currently boot both a SSW 7.1 Zip Disk and a SSW 6.08 Zip Disk no problem!
- The zip disk does not work with System 6.08
- False. The Zip Drive works beautifully on a 1MB Plus running SSW 6.0.8, with *possible* ROM version exceptions.
- The 4.x driver will auto-update itself if it is in the presence of a 5.x driver
- True, sort of. The 'Iomega Driver' that sits in the extensions folder (system folder for SSW 6) doesn't change- but any zip disk inserted while a 5.x driver was loaded at boot will have a 5.x driver on the Zip Disk itself. Also, if a zip disk has a 5.x driver on the media itself- if the disk is in the drive at boot time- the 5.x info off of the zip disk will take over. Really a bad feature- I'm working a hack that will re-write 4.2 driver information onto the zip disk media itself. This hack would, of course, be totally unsupported by Iomega (but then, so is the Zip Drive on a Plus!)
- The Iomega 4.2 driver is hard to find.
- It use to be at ftp.iomega.com/pub/english titled zipmac42.sea.hqx. Now, it is available here.
Auto Update Quirk
The Iomega drivers like to update themselvesto a newer version, sad but true, which is what I think is actuallyresponsible for the ugly rumors. When you try to boot from a zip diskthat has been 'updated' you either get a sad mac (SSW 6.0.8) or itrejects the disk (SSW 7.1).
This is how it works- at least, I think!(still doing some experiments) To explain this as easilt as possible-I have to make a distinction. There are two types of Iomega Drivers:Iomega Device Driver and Iomega Media Driver.
- Iomega Device Driver
- This is what sits in your extensions folder (system folder SSW 6). This tells the OS, more or less, how to best talk with the Iomega Drive. This loads at start-up- when the system boots.
- Iomega Media Driver
- This is information that sits on the Zip Disk itself, in it's own little partition.
When the system boots, it loads the IomegaDevice Driver. While loading the Iomega Device Driver, it checks theversion of the Iomega Media Driver. If a newer version of IomegaMedia Driver exists on the media- it loads newer information, at boottime, than the Iomega Device Driver knows about. Thus, if you have a4.2 Iomega Device Driver in your extensions folder and at boot time,there is a zip disk with Iomega Media Driver 5.x in the zip drive-your Mac *thinks* that Iomega Device Driver 5.x was loaded. This isbad- because it means that Zip Tools 4.2.1 won't work! The IomegaSolution is to update the Iomega Software on your Mac (fat bit ofgood that does for Plus owners- but the Plus technically isn't asupported computer)
During system boot OR AFTER the system hasbooted- any zip disk with an Iomega Media Driver OLDER THAN theIomega Device Driver will get new Iomega Media Driver informationautomagically written to it. Bummer.
How to *fix* your zip disk to work with aPlus
There is currently only one easy option Iknow of available to people with Zip Disks that contain 5.x IomegaMedia Drivers on them.
On a newer than Plus mac, boot with theIomega Device Driver 4.2 in your system folder, no zip disk in zipdrive. Once booted, back up all the info on the zip disk. Use ZipTools 4.2.1 to reformat the zip disk. Re-install the data- you*should* be good to go.
Unfortunately, you can't use Zip Tools 4.2from a Plus to give a disk a 4.2 driver with the fresh re-formatoption. The problem is that Zip Tools will tell you it requires a'MacSE or newer running System 7'.
Yes, I tried 'lying' to the software, usingthe extension/control panel set called 'Wish I were...' but the ZipTools wouldn't buy it! Too bad.
What you CAN do on a Plus is boot from a SSW6.0.8 floppy w/ appropriate 4.2 driver in system folder, no zip diskin zip drive. Insert zip disk- it will mount. Backup Data- and use'Erase Disk' from the Special menu. The zip disk will erase, and the4.2 driver information will be loaded onto the disk. You are thengood to go.
NOTE The hack I was working on won'twork. Basically- I was going to mimick an application called pdisk,compiling only the necessary portion (with slight modification) forthe Plus. With pdisk- you can see all the partitions on a zip disk,and remove any partition. My plan was to remove the partitioncontaining the bad media driver information, and hope that the 4.2device driver would automagically put 4.2 media driver onto the zipdisk- much the same way as a 5.x device driver automagically puts 5.xmedia driver onto a zip disk w/o damaging files.
On a G3- it sort of works, but not really.The G3, with the 4.2 driver, will still recognize AND mount a zipdisk that has had the media driver removed. However, it won't put anew driver in place- it just leaves it well enough alone. On a Plus,it refuses to mount a zip disk without a media driver, period, noteven if the zip disk is not the boot disk.
Unfortunately, I can't write anything thatwill put the 4.2 drivers onto the media- as I would be opening myselfup to lawsuit from Iomega. That's why I was hoping the Iomega DeviceDriver would kindly do it for me. Oh well.
Iomega Zip Disk Partition Map
For those of you interested-thislinks to typical pdisk output
Iomega Version 6
Iomega now has version 6 of their softwareavailable- they call it ioware 1.0, but it's really just the same oldbut newer version. I have never tried it- don't know if a zip disk w/iomega media driver 6.x will even mount in a Plus for erasing. I'llfind out soon enough, I guess.
In the beginning, personal computers used cassette tape drives. Then came floppy drives, followed by hard drives. And then came removable media drives such as SyQuest, Bernoulli, and – perhaps best know of all – Zip.
Before Zip
Iomega had made a name for itself with its Bernoulli Box, a lower cost alternative to SyQuest drives with their hard disk platters. SyQuest had established itself with a 44 MB 5-1/4″ cartridge drive system using the same 130mm platters found in hard drives.
By contrast, Bernoulli cartridges had a floppy disk spinning at 3,000 rpm, using the Bernoulli Principle to pull the disk’s surface toward the read-write head. Unfortunately, the original Bernoulli cartridge system used huge media, measuring about 8″ x 11″ (210 x 275 mm).
Bernoulli Box II used a smaller cartridge along with a drive that fit in a standard 5-1/4″ bay. Bernoulli drives were noted for their reliability, and they came in many different capacities.
Beyond Floppy Disks
Although Apple wasn’t the first to use 3.5″ floppy disks, it was the first to standardize on them instead of the older, larger 5-1/4″ floppies. In the PC world, single-sided 3.5″ floppies held 360 KB of data, double-sided disks 720 KB. On Macs, the same disks stored 400 KB and 800 KB respectively.
High-density (HD) 3.5″ floppies arrived in 1987, and both PCs and Macs used them to store 1.4 MB of information. The same year IBM introduced its DSED (Double Sided Extended Density) 2.88 MB floppy drive and disks, which never caught on. The market needed a removable media drive with more capacity than floppies but at a much better price than SyQuest.
The Zip 100
Iomega brought its Zip drive and Zip disks to market in March 1995 with 100 MB capacity. Zip uses a cartridge a little larger and somewhat thicker than a 3.5″ floppy disk. It was also far faster than a floppy drive, which is part of what kept the competing LS-120 SuperDisk from catching on – it had higher capacity than Zip but was far, far slower. (Interestingly, SuperDisk began as an Iomega project that they ditched in favor of Zip. 3M acquired the technology from Iomega and brought it to market.)
With their relatively high capacity and low price (initially $20 per cartridge), Zip took off, selling nearly one million in 1995. A few Zip disks could back up most hard drives in 1995; one Zip disk could hold a bootable system plus diagnostics. Zip was also a great way to send files out to a service bureau.
Zip disks came preformatted for Macs or PCs, and either could be reformatted for the other platform using Iomega Tools.
A Word of Warning
The SCSI Zip drive allows you to choose one of two possible SCSI IDs, 5 or 6. SCSI ID 6 is rock solid, but SCSI ID 5 can have issues when other devices on the SCSI bus are moving a lot of data. Avoid using SCSI ID 5 if at all possible.
How Fast (or Slow) Is It?
In 2013, Lui Gough tested several different types of Zip drives on his AMD Sempton 3300+ powered PC running Windows XP SP3. Here are the average and maximum transfer rates by drive mechanism:
- ATAPI Zip 100: 1.0 MB/s avg., 1.4 Mb/s max
- USB Zip 100, bus powered: 0.7 MB/s avg., 0.8 MB/s max
- SCSI Zip 100: 0.6 MB/s avg., 0.7 MB/s max
- Parallel port Zip 100: 0.2 MB/s across the board
Cam Giesbrecht ran benchmark tests on his Mac Quadra 605, also comparing HD floppy and hard drive performance. His results:
- floppy disk, writes @ 61.6 KB/s, reads @ 78.6 KB/s
- SCSI Zip disk, writes @ 1084 KB/s, reads @ 1123 KB/s (50% higher than SCSI on PC)
- internal Quantum hard drive, writes @ 1497 KB/s, reads @ 1850 KB/s
- external Quantum hard drive, writes @ 1367 KB/s, reads @ 1367 KB/s
The SCSI Zip drive performs better on this Mac and the one tested by Lui Gough on his Windows PC, in part because Macs were optimized for SCSI drives in those days while PCs were optimized for ATA drives. The Zip shows itself to be a decent backup medium, writing data at 70-80% of the write speed of the two tested hard drives.
As for the floppy, there is no comparison. Zip stores 70x as much data and runs about 15x as fast.
Finally, the Iomega Zip FAQ benchmarks Zip 100, SyQuest 44 (an older technology), and the hard drive in a 1989 Mac IIci, obtaining these results:
- hard drive: 119 KB/s random reads, 1099 KB/s 256K sequential reads, 71.1 KB/s random writes, 1216 KB/s 256K sequential writes
- Zip 100: 38.5 KB/s random reads, 1186 KB/s 256K sequential reads, 38.9 KB/s random writes, 1189 KB/s 256K sequential writes
- SyQuest 44: 37.3 KB/s random reads, 579 KB/s 256K sequential reads, 36.1 KB/s random writes, 579 KB/s 256K sequential writes
This seems to be comparing a 1989 vintage hard drive with two removable media options. Even an older hard drive outperforms Zip 100 and SyQuest 44 for random reads and writes, but the big surprise is that for 256 KB sequential reads, Zip beats the hard drive, while it takes a close second for 256 KB sequential writes, just behind the older hard drive.
Overall Zip had decent performance, especially compared to older hard drives. With contemporary mid-1990s hard drives, Zip would fall further behind yet still acquit itself nicely.
Lots of Options
Supported Platforms
As long as Iomega kept things simple, Zip continued to grow and grow. It supported most operating system of that era:
- MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows, although Windows 7 and later will not work with parallel port drives
- Mac System 6 through Mac OS 9.2.2 plus OS X (System 6 requires an Iomega Drive version prior to 5.0, as does the Mac Plus)
- IBM OS/2
- AmigaOS 3.5 and later
- Oracle Solaris 8-11
- some Linux and BSD versions, although Zip is not universally supported
- some users have made SCSI Zip drives work with Apple II and Atari ST computers
Later versions of Zip supported 250 MB (launched December 1998) and 750 MB (August 2002) of storage. Zip drive sales began their decline in 1999 as CD-R and DVD-R grew in popularity, followed by the explosion in USB thumb drives.
Driver Downloads
- IomegaWare 4.0.2 for Windows 98, Me, 2000, and XP. Not compatible with Windows 95 or NT.
- Iomega Zip 100MB USB Drivers Download, Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10.
- Iomega Zip 100MB Parallel Port Drivers Download, Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10.
- Iomega Zip 100MB ATAPI Drivers Download, Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10.
- Iomega Zip 100MB SCSI Drivers Download, Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10.
- IomegaWare 4.0.2 for Mac OS 8.6 or later, OS X 10.1-10.2.1. Drivers are not needed with OS X 10.4, 10.5, and 10.6.
- Zip driver 4.2 for Mac Plus running System 6
Interfaces
Zip drives were available in numerous interfaces, including:
- IDE, an early ATA standard that does not support ATAPI commands
- ATAPI, a later version of ATA specifically for removable media; Zip 100, 250, and 750
- SCSI, internal and external, found on almost all Macs of the era, Zip 100 and Zip 250
- IEEE 1284 for parallel ports with passthrough for your printer, Zip 100 and Zip 250
- Zip Plus, an external drive that works with SCSI or parallel port, Zip 100 only
There were also three later implementations:
- USB 1.1, Zip 100 and Zip 250
- FireWire/IEEE 1394, Zip 250 and Zip 750
- USB 2.0, Zip 750
Incompatibilities
With each additional Zip format, Iomega further muddied the waters. It was simple when every Zip disk stored 100 MB and every Zip drive could read and write to it.
Zip 250 drives can read and write both Zip 100 and Zip 250 disks, although they write to Zip 100 disks very slowly. Zip 100 drives automatically eject Zip 250 disks as unreadable.
Zip 750 drives can read Zip 100 disks but not write to them at all. It is fully compatible with Zip 250 disks. Zip 100 and Zip 250 drives will eject a Zip 750 drive as unreadable.
Interestingly, Zip was listed as one of the 25 worst technology products (#15) by PCWorld in 2006 – and one of the 50 best (#23) in 2007!
Iomega was acquired by EMC in June 2008, making it part of the world’s largest storage company. EMC and Lenovo partnered in 2013 to create LenovoEMC, which took over Iomega’s business.
* No, it isn’t a typo. Compleat is a legitimate, albeit archaic, spelling for complete. As Kenneth G. Wilson says in The Columbia Guide to Standard American English: “This obsolete spelling of the adjective complete suggests an air of antiquity that seems to please some of those who name things….” We find that fitting for Low End Mac’s Compleat Guides to “obsolete” hardware and software.
Further Reading
- Zip Drive, Wikipedia
- The Iomega Zip Drive FAQ, 1995
- Iomega Zip Drive 100 Parallel, Centre for Computing History
- Our Favorite “Forgotten Tech” – from BeOS to Zip Drives, Ars Technica, 2012
- Using a Zip Drive on a Mac Plus, Michael A. Peters, Jags House, 1998
- Mac Plus and Zip Drives Revisited, Vintage Mac World, 2007
Keywords: #zipdrive #zipdisk #iomegazip
Short link: http://goo.gl/JZA9SU
searchword: compleatzip