Using Zip Drive in new computers < 6 months old

FuzzDuckie · Joined: Dec 13, 2002 Posts: 1008

I'm considering a new desktop...haven't settled on one yet (maybe in another 6 months Razz

I'm that slow...); I know that I can likely get a internal floppy drive or at least an external one.

What I AM worried about is the ZIP drive... would I be able to take the external one off of this desktop (yes I'm showing the PC's age..) and put it in the new computer (knowing I'll break any warranties if I go prefab.. I'm lazy.. and well.. we won't go there) or is an external drive better?

Best solution probably is to just back everyhing off of the zip disks now but can't hurt to think ahead as I'm not even sure I HAVE all my zip disks after moving so many times.

Would it be worth the effort?

Thanks in advance!

(and I really need to visit here again more often....)

PhotoCarp · Joined: Sep 06, 2007 Posts: 109

If the ZIP drive is an external one then you really won't be able to merely put it in the new one if your intention is to install it internally. Depending on the type of connection for the drive you might be able to connect it to the new desktop. Newer ZIP drives connect via a USB port. I had an external ZIP-100 drive a while back that connected via a parallel port. Newer PCs don't have such a critter however you can buy and install a PCI card with a parallel port.

IOmega still makes the drives and as for a storage media they are quite reliable. I never had a problem but I'll bet there is at least one person out there with a horror story of losing scads of data. There are plenty of alternative storage systems out there that are cheaper and take up less physical space. One 320GB external HDD can hold more data than 400 750MB ZIP discs can. However at the cost of 1 external ZIP drive and 10 discs you could buy 2 320GB external drives or a DVD burner and 300 blank discs.

If you're going to stick with the ZIP drive just make sure that you don't buy these discs. Wink

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2636

My advice, move the files off the zip floppies and put them on a USB stick. Zip drives will soon be dead and you don't want to have files on media that you can no longer access (like folks who never bothered moving the files from 5 1/4" floppies to 3 1/2" ones). I moved all my husband's files off his zip disks onto a USB stick quite a few years ago.
We had two external "zip-type" drives which are now gone.

FuzzDuckie · Joined: Dec 13, 2002 Posts: 1008

Thanks!

I think I may have been confusing in what I said.

I currently have an internal Zip drive in this computer (its 7 years old now). I do not have an external one.

I'm planning on getting a new computer (not sure what yet.. have some people suggesting mac... ) and I wanted to know if I COULD put the internal zip drive from the old computer into a new one or if it was better to get an external drive and just leave the internal one alone.

I don't have many Zip disks that have actual data on them but what with half my life packed in boxes for the better part of 6 years I hope I had put all the zip disks I had into one box (which I found and is accounted for) but knowing me there's gonna be a stray disk somwhere with data on it LOL.

I already have a 350 GB drive which I plan to use as a secondary drive (it was free from a friend) and also might get a backup drive to at least clear this one of 40 GB of stuff...

Think the Flash drive idea is the way to go.. the smaller sized ones go for 10 bucks a pop most places these days..

Now to get my motivation in gear....!

goretsky · Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:21 am Post subject:

Hello,

I would suggest that you consider purchasing an external USB Iomega Zip 250 removable cartridge disk drive (or an Iomega Zip 750, if the old computer has that) and using that with the new computer to migrate data from the old computer's Iomega Zip removable disk cartridges.

The advantage to this is three-fold:

You do not have to worry about the internal Iomega Zip removable cartridge disk drive being compatible with the new computer.
You do not risk damaging the Iomega Zip removable cartridge disk drive when removing it from the old computer for installation in the new computer.
You will have fully-usable Iomega Zip removable cartridge disk drives in both computers. This could be useful if the new computer is unavailable and you need to look at some data on a Zip disk cartridge.

Of course, if you migrate all the data off of Zip disk cartridges to USB flash drives before you get the new computer this becomes a moot issue, however, it sounds like you are expecting some Zip disk cartridges to appear after upgrading to a new computer.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

Fuzzy,

Zip drives are like last weeks newspaper.
They're Old, out of date and on the dying side of life.
And most stores that had zip disks on the shelf just a few years ago, no longer have them.

Ever hear of "The Click of Death" ?
It's a well known and frequent failure of Iomega Zip Drives.
Zip drives have gone down the same road as the 5.25" floppy disk........
Out of sight and into oblivion.

An internal Zip drive, (most anyway) require a 3.5" drive bay.
Almost NO computer on the market, unless you have one custom made, even have 3.5" drive bays.

As was already suggested, transfer all your old data files to a 4 or 8 gig Flash Drive (very cheap today) and permanently retire the zip drive and disks.
In the long run, you'll be very glad you did. Wink

Then you can also burn those files to DVD's for even more permanent storage.

Move into the 21st Century and ZAP the Zip !!!!

Y'all have a great day now, Y'hear?

The Doctor Cool

FuzzDuckie · Joined: Dec 13, 2002 Posts: 1008

Thanks all for your insights.. just made my decision a little easier getting view points.

I likely won't use the Zip Drive all that much anyway.. the Floppy 3.5 I do plan to at least have an external one.. I have TONS more of those than I do of the Zip.

As Aryeh noted-- I'm more afraid that some errant Zip disk will pop up out of nowhere and I will have no way of seeing what's on it. plus I THINK my father has some as well- not that I'll snoop but I may have to take care of his stuff in the... distant future. I think he's ahead of me in that department though.. moved off all the data to other sources of storage. I'm just lazy.

Thanks all! That's one less thing to really worry about (I only replaced it with if to wait for Windows 7 or not...)