Zip 100 SCSI drive - trying to install on WindowsXP

[swingman]

I have a Zip 100mb SCSI drive which I initially thought was a parallel drive
since it has the same 25 pin d-shell connector. What kind of pci adapter do
I need to make this work?

 

[Impmon]

I have a Zip 100mb SCSI drive which I initially thought was a parallel drive
since it has the same 25 pin d-shell connector. What kind of pci adapter do
I need to make this work?

Theorically any SCSI host should work. ZIP drive are based on the old
SCSI-1 standard and all newer SCSI system should be backward
compatible but you may need to find a different cable or adapter to
hook up the ZIP drive.

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

[This followup was posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage and a copy
was sent to the cited author.]

I have a Zip 100mb SCSI drive which I initially thought was a parallel drive
since it has the same 25 pin d-shell connector. What kind of pci adapter do
I need to make this work?

You can use any SCSI adapter. The problem is that DB25 connector. You
might be able to find some very basic controller with a DB25 built-in,
such as an Adaptec 2906 or similar. Otherwise, you would need adapter
cables, which can be very expensive.

Unless you MUST keep the ZIP drive to access archived material, I
would dump it. It's no longer practical. I used to have one years ago,
but stopped using it as CD and DVD is so much cheaper. If you only need
it to access old data, I would quickly copy that data to CD's or other
media, then dump the ZIP.

 

[Arno Wagner]

[This followup was posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage and a copy
was sent to the cited author.]

You can use any SCSI adapter. The problem is that DB25 connector. You
might be able to find some very basic controller with a DB25 built-in,
such as an Adaptec 2906 or similar. Otherwise, you would need adapter
cables, which can be very expensive.

These connectors were used by Apple. There are adapters from
ordinary 64 pin flat SCSI cables to DB25. A few years back they
were cheap. Don't know whether they are still being sold.

Unless you MUST keep the ZIP drive to access archived material, I
would dump it. It's no longer practical. I used to have one years ago,
but stopped using it as CD and DVD is so much cheaper. If you only need
it to access old data, I would quickly copy that data to CD's or other
media, then dump the ZIP.

I agree to that, only if your data is important, don't depend on
cheap and unreliable mass-market media like CD or DVD.

Arno

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

[This followup was posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage and a copy
was sent to the cited author.]

You can use any SCSI adapter. The problem is that DB25 connector. You
might be able to find some very basic controller with a DB25 built-in,
such as an Adaptec 2906 or similar. Otherwise, you would need adapter
cables, which can be very expensive.

These connectors were used by Apple. There are adapters from
ordinary 64 pin flat SCSI cables to DB25. A few years back they
were cheap. Don't know whether they are still being sold.

64-pin? Or do you mean 68-pin Wide-SCSI? To be honest, it could be
cheaper to buy an internal IDE ZIP drive than a new SCSI controller. Or
maybe a used parallel-port ZIP. Also, some external ZIP's were dual
parallel/SCSI. If you use the original Iomega cable, you can use it with
either. For later versions of Windows, I think there is a setting in
Device Manager/Ports/parallel port for 'Enable legacy PnP', or something
like that. Then run the Add Device Wizard to see if it's detected. There
is rarely need for Iomega's software unless you need read/write
protection or passwords.

I agree to that, only if your data is important, don't depend on
cheap and unreliable mass-market media like CD or DVD.

The key to any archiving is MULTIPLE backups.

 

[Arno Wagner]

The key to any archiving is MULTIPLE backups.

This will not help if all of your copies age fast. The key is to
define in advance what reliability, what archiving period and
what maintenance effort you want to have.

If you want to go with one medium, zero maintenance and several decades,
MOD it the only choice.

If you can tolerate high maintenance (yearly checks) and multiple
media sets, go CD or DVD, but don't fotget to chcek them all each year
or so. And store them correctly. And select good media (pretty hard)
and butn them right, since others could leave you without your data
even faster, even with multiple copies.

Professional archiving tape is somewere in between but too expensive
for most users.

Arno

 

[J. Clarke]

This will not help if all of your copies age fast. The key is to
define in advance what reliability, what archiving period and
what maintenance effort you want to have.

If you want to go with one medium, zero maintenance and several decades,
MOD it the only choice.

If you can tolerate high maintenance (yearly checks) and multiple
media sets, go CD or DVD, but don't fotget to chcek them all each year
or so. And store them correctly. And select good media (pretty hard)

Phthalocyanine dye and hardened surface is the trick. Not that hard at all
to select. See for example Maxell DVD-R Pro.

Further for the price of one 9 gig MO disk you can get DVD-R disks from 15
different manufacturers, which eliminates relying on a single vendor's
quality control.

and butn them right, since others could leave you without your data
even faster, even with multiple copies.

Professional archiving tape is somewere in between but too expensive
for most users.

Uh, Arno, DLT is commonly used for archiving by rather large players who may
be assumed to have the resources to do their homework, IBM claims that it
will last 50-100 years if given reasonable care and it's a HELL of a lot
cheaper than MO. The largest available MO media was 9.1GB last I heard.
Best price I can find on it is 55 bucks a shot. DLTIV tapes cost 25 bucks
a shot and hold 40 gig. The best price I can find on a 9.1GB MO drive is
1500 bucks but a DLT1 drive costs 650 and a DLT8000 around 1100. So DLT
seems a _lot_ more attractive than MO unless the storage duration is really
long.

MO I'm sure has its use, but its limited capacity and high cost make it a
niche product.

But this is all totally ludicrous in response to a question about a Zip
drive.

 

[ha]

This will not help if all of your copies age fast.

Which they dont with good media CD and DVD.

The key is to define in advance what reliability, what archiving
period and what maintenance effort you want to have.

That isnt the 'key', its just one approach.

If you want to go with one medium, zero maintenance
and several decades, MOD it the only choice.

And you can get just as good reliability with multiple different media.

If you can tolerate high maintenance (yearly checks)

Thats not high maintenance.

and multiple media sets, go CD or DVD, but don't fotget to chcek them all each
year or so. And store them correctly. And select good media (pretty hard)

Nope, quite easy now.

and butn them right, since others could leave you
without your data even faster, even with multiple copies.
Bullshit.

Professional archiving tape is somewere in
between but too expensive for most users.

And so is MOD for personal desktop systems.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Arno Wagner wrote:

Phthalocyanine dye and hardened surface is the trick. Not that hard at all
to select. See for example Maxell DVD-R Pro.

Further for the price of one 9 gig MO disk you can get DVD-R disks from 15
different manufacturers, which eliminates relying on a single vendor's
quality control.

Uh, Arno, DLT is commonly used for archiving by rather large players who may
be assumed to have the resources to do their homework, IBM claims that it
will last 50-100 years if given reasonable care and it's a HELL of a lot
cheaper than MO. The largest available MO media was 9.1GB last I heard.
Best price I can find on it is 55 bucks a shot. DLTIV tapes cost 25 bucks
a shot and hold 40 gig. The best price I can find on a 9.1GB MO drive is
1500 bucks but a DLT1 drive costs 650 and a DLT8000 around 1100. So DLT
seems a _lot_ more attractive than MO unless the storage duration is really
long.

I meant to say "private/home users". For these you go to 3.5" MOD. About
300 USD for the drive and about 15 USD for a 2.3GB medium. Not usable for
high-volume long-term storage, but good for family photographs, backup
of work and the like.

For higher volumes, professional tape is the way to go, I agree with
you there.

MO I'm sure has its use, but its limited capacity and high cost make it a
niche product.

Actually 3.5" MOD is perfect for home and small office use. It is also
widely used for digital X-rays, at least in Europe.

But this is all totally ludicrous in response to a question about a Zip
drive.

I don't agree. I replaced my Zip with a 640MB 3.5" MOD 6 years ago and are
completely happy with it. Still enough for my backups of critical stuff
and never lost a single bit of information up to now.

Arno