How to get an Iomega Zip Drive to operate with OS 10x

[pmiles]

From my recollection... one of the reasons the Zip drive disappeared was due to questionable accessibility even back then.

Can't imagine anything saved to an old Zip disk is worth recovering.... we have this tendency to save stuff that in reality, wasn't in need of saving. I have years worth of old work on a hard dive that I have maybe looked at but never used. It's so dated as to make a rock seem like something from the future by comparison. Sort of like saving a picture of yourself wearing bell-bottom jeans...

 

[pullulator]

Pmiles, you sound like my wife who detests my resurrection of old family photos and movies.

 

[pacmania1982]

Wow, a Zip drive... talk about a blast from the past! Can't believe they still work today.

I just bought one from a SCSI one on eBay

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[calliex]

From my recollection... one of the reasons the Zip drive disappeared was due to questionable accessibility even back then.

Can't imagine anything saved to an old Zip disk is worth recovering.... we have this tendency to save stuff that in reality, wasn't in need of saving. I have years worth of old work on a hard dive that I have maybe looked at but never used. It's so dated as to make a rock seem like something from the future by comparison. Sort of like saving a picture of yourself wearing bell-bottom jeans...

I agree, it was nice that the drive I have works. Every so often someone at work will find Zip that they want to find out what is on it. Usually it is something they don't care about anymore. The reality is I transferred what was on some of them to a thumb drive and erased all the discs that I had.

 

[cudder23]

Jumping in...

"When I connect the drive to the MacBook, any disc that is inserted appears in Disk Utility but is grayed out and cannot be mounted or erased. When I try to mount, a message appears that includes disk error 49153."

I don't know if this will help, but try it in the EXACT ORDER presented:
1. power down, all the way off
2. connect the ZIP drive and insert a disk (it won't spin yet, but insert it anyway)
3. power on the MacBook
4. log in and get to the finder
Does the ZIP disk mount on the desktop now?
Or... same error msg?

I happen to be trying to resurrect an OLD Zip Drive (1990s), and was delighted to see an ongoing discussion about this.

My situation:

• 2019 21.5" iMac running OS 10.15.6 (Catalina)
• 1990s Zip drive has SCSI/Parallel ports
• I just purchased this item from Amazon, hoping it would be the right connector to go from the Zip Drive to a USB port on the iMac:
  • https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012FF3CW0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
• I tried the steps you suggest here, but the Zip Disc doesn't mount, and I don't see the Zip Disc/Drive in Disk Utility.
• Also, when I insert the Zip Disc in your step 2, the disc/drive does spin, if that means anything.

Questions:

• Did I buy the wrong cable? It connects on both ends in that it fits...
• Are SCSI and Parallel actually the same thing? I know the physical interface is the same, are SCSI and Parallel just different software interfaces for the same DB25 connection?
• Are there any other utilities (besides Disk Utility) for mounting stubborn discs?
• Not surprisingly, System Information doesn't show the Zip Drive in the USB.
• Do I need to get a Parallel/SCSI adapter? (Found that under the Parallel/SCSI under Hardware in the System Information.

Thank you or anyone who has a lead on what to try next. Or to give up.

 

[Fishrrman]

pull wrote:
"Perhaps the problem is with the USB-A to USA-C adapter"

I'll bet that's got something to do with it.
What kind of adapter?
Any way to try something else?

 

[Fishrrman]

I don't think a "parallel port to USB" adapter is gonna do it.
If you want a ZIP drive that works with modern Macs, get one that is "USB" (with a USB port and connecting cable).

 

[biffuz]

I have a USB ZIP drive, a USB floppy drive, a USB BluRay writer, and they all just work in Catalina - no reason to think they wouldn't in Big Sur. They are standard USB drives after all.
They also work in Windows 10, Linux, even Android.
But the reality is, those things are old and someday they will die. Both the drive and the disks. Recover your data before it's too late.

 

[pacmania1982]

Sorry to the OP as this isn't really helping, but here's the latest edition to the family.

 

[biffuz]

Jumping in...

I happen to be trying to resurrect an OLD Zip Drive (1990s), and was delighted to see an ongoing discussion about this.

My situation:

• 2019 21.5" iMac running OS 10.15.6 (Catalina)
• 1990s Zip drive has SCSI/Parallel ports
• I just purchased this item from Amazon, hoping it would be the right connector to go from the Zip Drive to a USB port on the iMac:
  • https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012FF3CW0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
• I tried the steps you suggest here, but the Zip Disc doesn't mount, and I don't see the Zip Disc/Drive in Disk Utility.
• Also, when I insert the Zip Disc in your step 2, the disc/drive does spin, if that means anything.

Questions:

• Did I buy the wrong cable? It connects on both ends in that it fits...
• Are SCSI and Parallel actually the same thing? I know the physical interface is the same, are SCSI and Parallel just different software interfaces for the same DB25 connection?
• Are there any other utilities (besides Disk Utility) for mounting stubborn discs?
• Not surprisingly, System Information doesn't show the Zip Drive in the USB.
• Do I need to get a Parallel/SCSI adapter? (Found that under the Parallel/SCSI under Hardware in the System Information.

Thank you or anyone who has a lead on what to try next. Or to give up.

Parallel and SCSI are two different interfaces. Connector shapes are meaningless. If you try to plug a drive to the wrong interface they may even get damaged. Check which kind of drive you have.

There's a bit of confusion on the matter because what people call "parallel port" is actually an interface called IEEE 1284; "parallel" is just a characteristic of the interface, meaning it transmits several bits at once (in "parallel" to each other), as opposed to a "serial" port which transmits one bit at a time (the "serial port" on PCs actual name is RS232).
SCSI interfaces comes in two variants, the old one is parallel while the newer one is serial, that's what you see in System information (the same goes for ATA interfaces: Parallel ATA or PATA - aka the good ol' IDE - vs. Serial ATA or SATA).

That's why if you connect a SCSI ZIP drive to a Mac you would see it in that Parallel/SCSI section, and of course you need a SCSI adapter for that to work. They work just fine under modern OSs because SCSI drives are pretty much standard; there's no such luck with "parallel port" drives, they need specific drivers, and OSX never had one for our dear ZIP drives

Another source of confusion is caused by the fact the parallel ZIP drives in Windows are listed under SCSI drives... that's because internally they are! Their drivers actually do little more other than sending the SCSI commands down the parallel port...

 

[pullulator]

pull wrote:
"Perhaps the problem is with the USB-A to USA-C adapter"

I'll bet that's got something to do with it.
What kind of adapter?
Any way to try something else?

Sorry for the late response. The adapter is Apple's current adapter that works with the Apple Superdrive. Let me try something else, like a USB-A to USB-C hub.

 

[dazzer21-2]

I'm using Mojave on a later '15 iMac and my USB ZIP drive is just plug in and go.

 

[profcutter]

Yeah, I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t a power issue. Maybe the newer mac Laptops are unable to provide enough power via the adaptors people are using. It might be helpful to see what machines people have had success with, and which ones are unable to access the drive, to see if it’s a mac hardware issue, or something else.

 

[biffuz]

Yeah, I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t a power issue. Maybe the newer mac Laptops are unable to provide enough power via the adaptors people are using. It might be helpful to see what machines people have had success with, and which ones are unable to access the drive, to see if it’s a mac hardware issue, or something else.

If you use a simple C to A adapter power won't be an issue, USB 3 and newer ports are in fact more powerful than the older ones. You may have problems if you use more complex adapters or hubs, in this case one with external power is highly recommended.

 

[Fishrrman]

Profcutter wrote:
"I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t a power issue. Maybe the newer mac Laptops are unable to provide enough power via the adaptors people are using"

If you're going to use a USB ZIP drive with a Mac, you're also going to need the ZIP's external power block.

I don't think a ZIP is going to run off of USB "bus power".

 

[biffuz]

Profcutter wrote:
"I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t a power issue. Maybe the newer mac Laptops are unable to provide enough power via the adaptors people are using"

If you're going to use a USB ZIP drive with a Mac, you're also going to need the ZIP's external power block.

I don't think a ZIP is going to run off of USB "bus power".

Mine is bus powered
I forgot there was an earlier version with an external power brick. In that case yes, it needs it.

 

[profcutter]

Hmm. Still, an accounting of which machines are proven to work with Zip drives could be useful, in case it actually is a hardware compatibility problem. I just used power as an example.

 

[ignatius345]

From my recollection... one of the reasons the Zip drive disappeared was due to questionable accessibility even back then.

Can't imagine anything saved to an old Zip disk is worth recovering.... we have this tendency to save stuff that in reality, wasn't in need of saving. I have years worth of old work on a hard dive that I have maybe looked at but never used. It's so dated as to make a rock seem like something from the future by comparison. Sort of like saving a picture of yourself wearing bell-bottom jeans...

Beg to differ. I lost a Mac and its backup ZIP disk in 2000 when my place got burglarized. Tons of correspondence (remember, email was largely POP back then) and that was important. People wrote emails more like letters in those days, so this was a drag.

 

[Macky-Mac]

Mine is bus powered
I forgot there was an earlier version with an external power brick. In that case yes, it needs it.

mine too.....I bought a couple when they came out and got rid of the earlier versions that required a power brick

 

[redpandadev]

When I try to mount, a message appears that includes disk error 49153.

This may be of some help: https://swissmacuser.ch/hfs-volume-data-recovery-diskutility-could-not-mount-error-49153/

 

[pullulator]

There is a problem with the firmware on my 2019 and 2020 MacBooks. Neither can be made to open any Zip disk, despite all the suggestions in this forum. But, using my Zip 250 drive on my son's 2017 iMac is no problem. and all of my Zip discs can be opened. It appears that my upgrades have downsides - I also cannot open floppy discs using a LaCie drive even though that works on the 2017 Mac. Lesson - keep your older machines until you transferred everything to a drive using USB-C or TB2 or 3 that works with current MacBooks with only TB3 ports.

 

[AL2TEACH]

I tried to get mine to work and found out it needs the software for it due to the OS upgrade. bummer.

 

[biffuz]

There is a problem with the firmware on my 2019 and 2020 MacBooks. Neither can be made to open any Zip disk, despite all the suggestions in this forum. But, using my Zip 250 drive on my son's 2017 iMac is no problem. and all of my Zip discs can be opened. It appears that my upgrades have downsides - I also cannot open floppy discs using a LaCie drive even though that works on the 2017 Mac. Lesson - keep your older machines until you transferred everything to a drive using USB-C or TB2 or 3 that works with current MacBooks with only TB3 ports.

That's worrying, but given the complexity of USB protocols, not that weird.
Which OS do you have on your machines? What kind of adapters did you use?

 

[Fishrrman]

AL2 wrote:
"I tried to get mine to work and found out it needs the software for it due to the OS upgrade."

Could you decipher this sentence?
What "software" do you need?
What OS are you running?
What Mac do you have and what year was it made?

My "recycling bin find" USB ZIP100 has run on every Mac and every OS to which it's been connected...

 

[profcutter]

Fishrrman, have you connected it to a post 2016 laptop via standard Apple adaptors? If so, that would put that question to rest.