Downgrading iomega zip disk embedded driver

[squoril]

As many of you know the mac plus requires iomega driver 4.2 to work on a mac plus, newer doesn't work.
Ive also learned that mac formatted zip100 disks have a hidden partition with the embedded driver so it can be bootable,
You can use IomegaTools to low level format the disk which replaces this hidden driver with whatever version of Iomega tools you used
However IomegaTools 4.2 (not the 4.2 driver) will NOT run on a mac plus, its needs system 7 AND a Mac SE or newer for the 256K ROMs with more SCSI support.

I am in the unique spot of A. Having a mac plus and ONLY a mac plus B. having disks with newer driver versions than 4.2, C. not wanting to simply use an alternate method of making Plus bootable zip disks (HDT, silver lining, etc)

Ive done some digging and learned that at the disk level the hidden driver partition is possibly 400 blocks and begins with block 21 (Driver 5.0.3 installed on my disks went to block 250ish, observed using Sedit running on my Plus)


I need some help, right now i have no disks with embedded driver 4.2 or a way to run Iomegatools 4.2 to make one.
Is their someone who can initialise a zip with Iot4.2 and get me a hex dump of the drive from block 0 to 450 (or where ever it goes back to zeros after the driver payload) my goal is to make a tool to one click downgrade the driver on zip disks to 4.2 that runs on a plus.

thanks
-squoril

 

[CC_333]

Do you have access to the patched Apple HD SC Setup?

I discovered years ago that if you format a Zip disk using that, it will work without Iomega drivers at all.

I used several disks formatted this way, and they worked fantastically on any Mac that supports the standard Apple drivers (pretty much all of them). the only negative I can think of is that you lose the ability to eject them without having to either reboot or use a utility that can remount "ejected" (unmounted) hard drives.

Beyond that, if you want to keep the Iomega drivers, by all means get the 4.2 driver if you can. I think your idea of making your one-click tool is great for those who don't want to bother with technically unsupported drivers and use the official Iomega ones.

c