SCSI zip drive

[EvieSigma]

At this point I have 3 external drives (2 parallel and one Zip250 USB) and four internal ones (beige G3, G3 B&W, Quicksilver G4, generic K6-2 AT box) but I still need a SCSI one.

 

[PB145B]

Have you guys got pics of your bricks? I'm wondering about variations for the portable sets.

Here is the adapter that came with mine.

 

[rsolberg]

For anybody in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle RePC has a couple large totes full of external ZIP drives.  Most are parallel, but there were quite a few SCSI units as well.  I briefly considered a 250MB external SCSI, but I realized I wouldn't have room in my luggage for the flight home.  I did pick up some PhoneNet dongles, serial cables, internal 50 pin SCSI ribbons, a brand-new 45w "yo-yo" power adapter, and its predecessor, the black rectangular PowerBook 45w adapter.  They had more of both in apparently good shape.  I also found a PowerBook VST Zip drive mixed in with hundreds of PC optical drives, but I left it for somebody else to find.

Also of note, they had a bunch of Jaz, Cliq and other less common removable media drives.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Ouch! You really should have chucked some socks and wares to pack up that SCSI Zip 250. That's pretty much the ultimate retro-Mac sneakernet medium. Other media may be higher capacity, but 250MB Zip means you pretty much never have to mess with burning a CD to move a big file to a SCSI Mac from PC or any other Mac. That one's on my very short list. They're rare enough to fetch a quite a bit of money on eBay.

Careful, got one listed as SCSI that was parallel, there's another listed incorrectly on eBay right now. I've never seen the real deal priced at less than $100.

 

[ArmorAlley]

On one of the RetroMacCast episodes [1], back when they were being made, they had an episode about Zip drives.

The contributor made the point that the version of the Iomega Driver extension was most important if you intend to create boot Zip disks for Macs that don't support the Iomega Driver v5 or higher.

If I remember correctly 8and I am open to correction on this), Iomega Driver v4.2 works in the Mac Plus and upwards. It supports internal and external SCSI Zip-100 (aka Zip-95) drives.

Iomega Driver 4.3 is needed if you want to reformat disks from one format (e.g. DOS) to another.

Iomega Driver 5.0 comes with Mac OS 8.1 and version 6 with Mac OS 9. Version 5 is needed for IDE Zip-Drives, 250-MB Zip drives as well USB Zip drives.

Disks created with version 4.2 or 4.3 with the appropriate System Folder will boot the appropriate Mac. Stick this Zip-disk into a Mac with a version 5 driver and the driver on the Zip-disk will be upgraded.

The disk will no longer be able to boot up Macs with the version 4.x Iomega Driver extension.

[1] https://retromaccast.ning.com/forum/topics/episode-423-zip-a-dee-doo-dah?commentId=1672786%3AComment%3A131810 (15 minutes in)

 

[CC_333]

Zip disks can also be formatted using Apple HD SC Setup, allowing them to operate seamlessly in any SCSI Mac.

c

 

[reukiodo]

I would highly recommend against using the Iomega driver and use the patched version of Apple's HD SC Setup, since not only will the disks be bootable, but you'll have a lot less issues using the disks in systems that don't have the Iomega driver.

Zip drives and their disks are extremely handy as recovery tools, not just moving data back and forth. My learning experience was somewhat documented:

http://reukiodo.blogspot.com/2015/09/howto-install-mac-os-8-from-zip-disk.html

 

[PB145B]

I would highly recommend against using the Iomega driver and use the patched version of Apple's HD SC Setup, since not only will the disks be bootable, but you'll have a lot less issues using the disks in systems that don't have the Iomega driver.

Thanks for the suggestion! For now the Iomega driver is working out great for me, but if I need to make a bootable disk I’ll definitely give this a try!

 

[SE30_Neal]

I got 2 of these scsi zip drives myself and it’s been revolutionary for me being able to transfer software from my performa 6200 which is online (so macintosh-garden) to my se/30. Plus something lovely and nostalgic about the little blue zip. And you can buy a scsi to usb adaptor if you want.

 

[PB145B]

I got 2 of these scsi zip drives myself and it’s been revolutionary for me being able to transfer software from my performa 6200 which is online (so macintosh-garden) to my se/30. Plus something lovely and nostalgic about the little blue zip. And you can buy a scsi to usb adaptor if you want.

Yeah, these SCSI zip drives are definitely extremely useful!

As I said in an earlier post, those SCSI to USB adapters are extremely hard to find for a good price. Most of the ones on eBay are ridiculously overpriced. And, even worse yet, people seem to actually be paying those prices!

If you want USB zip you are better off going with an actual USB zip drive. 

 

[tanaquil]

Agreed, compared to SCSI, USB Zip drives are plentiful and cheap. I have both SCSI and USB drives, works great. 

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

As I said in an earlier post, those SCSI to USB adapters are extremely hard to find for a good price. Most of the ones on eBay are ridiculously overpriced. And, even worse yet, people seem to actually be paying those prices!

If sales are completed at those price levels, by definition, the items are not overpriced. Lot's of stuff on eBay really is overpriced, then it doesn't sell. If you can, make offers, sometimes you get lucky that way. I'd like a SCSI Zip 250, but they sell way out of my price range. :mellow:

I love Zips, been using them since the beginning. They have their detractors around here.

 

[PB145B]

If sales are completed at those price levels, by definition, the items are not overpriced.

Yeah, I mean overpriced in that they are probably made in China for a buck or two.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Supply and demand can be a beyotch. :lol:

@reukiodo: loved reading about your 9500 build. Love the trio, I've got two, but haven't tried them in anything but the 6500, which is apparently unsupported.

 

[PB145B]

Supply and demand can be a beyotch. :lol:

 

Yeah, they do actually seem to be in relatively high demand because there is quite a few of them that have sold on eBay. There was also one that only went for $21! Wish I’d have seen that!

 

[SE30_Neal]

I really enjoy using the zip drive something about it i like, i have 3 (2 x scsi, 1 x parallel). Yes what is it about the silly prices for those  scsi to usb thats not just supply and demand its just silly

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Got a link to the adapters you're talking about?

 

[PB145B]

Got a link to the adapters you're talking about?

Just search “SCSI to USB” on eBay. There’s a whole bunch of them.

 

[Juror22]

Not trying to one-up you, but today I scored a SCSI zip 100 with 17 'new' (still wrapped) disks on CL for free - it was listed at $1, but he gave me a discount. It came with the box, docs and install disks for PC and Mac and an extra, narrow SCSI cable.

No carry case though...

 

[SE30_Neal]

Great buy!