case for zip drive?

A friend has a laptop and some zip disks, and a good zipdrive in a
broken computer.

Is there an external case available that he can mount the zip drive in
and plug it all in to the laptop with USB?

I already have cases like that for 3.5 and laptop harddrives, but my
googling for this has been unsuccessful. If I know there is such a
thing, I'll keep looking.

Thanks.

mm wrote:

A friend has a laptop and some zip disks, and a good zipdrive in a
broken computer. Is there an external case available that he can
mount the zip drive in and plug it all in to the laptop with USB? I
already have cases like that for 3.5 and laptop harddrives, but my
googling for this has been unsuccessful. If I know there is such a
thing, I'll keep looking.

So are asking about an *internal* zip drive in the old computer?
Wasn't that sitting in a 5.25-inch drive bay? You never mentioned what
interface is used for the data cable to the Zip drive (IDE or SATA).
Seems like you could use a 5.25-inch external case with a USB
interface. Assuming it was a 5.25-inch drive with an IDE interface, go
look at http://preview.tinyurl.com/2flqje3.

On Sun, 6 Jun 2010 00:31:44 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

mm wrote:

A friend has a laptop and some zip disks, and a good zipdrive in a
broken computer. Is there an external case available that he can
mount the zip drive in and plug it all in to the laptop with USB? I
already have cases like that for 3.5 and laptop harddrives, but my
googling for this has been unsuccessful. If I know there is such a
thing, I'll keep looking.

So are asking about an *internal* zip drive in the old computer?

Yes, internal.

Wasn't that sitting in a 5.25-inch drive bay?

I can't remember.

You never mentioned what
interface is used for the data cable to the Zip drive (IDE or SATA).

That's because I don't know. It's not my computer and the last time I
saw it opened was several years ago, and I probably dind't notice even
then.

I sort of thought a Zip drive would be like a floppy drive
electronically. ??

Seems like you could use a 5.25-inch external case with a USB
interface. Assuming it was a 5.25-inch drive with an IDE interface, go
look at http://preview.tinyurl.com/2flqje3.

Getting close.

Aha, 3 of the four have pictures of the box and the box says it's good
for CD and DVD in addition to harddrive, but no mention of Zip.

On 6/6/2010 12:31 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
mm wrote:

A friend has a laptop and some zip disks, and a good zipdrive in a
broken computer. Is there an external case available that he can
mount the zip drive in and plug it all in to the laptop with USB? I
already have cases like that for 3.5 and laptop harddrives, but my
googling for this has been unsuccessful. If I know there is such a
thing, I'll keep looking.

So are asking about an *internal* zip drive in the old computer?
Wasn't that sitting in a 5.25-inch drive bay? You never mentioned what
interface is used for the data cable to the Zip drive (IDE or SATA).
Seems like you could use a 5.25-inch external case with a USB
interface. Assuming it was a 5.25-inch drive with an IDE interface, go
look at http://preview.tinyurl.com/2flqje3.


The last internal zip I saw sat in a 3.5" bay, and had an IDE interface.

mm wrote:
A friend has a laptop and some zip disks, and a good zipdrive in a
broken computer.

Is there an external case available that he can mount the zip drive in

Anything that will take a floppy drive.

and plug it all in to the laptop with USB?

What bus did they plug into? you want such a case. if it exists.

Grinder wrote:

On 6/6/2010 12:31 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
mm wrote:

A friend has a laptop and some zip disks, and a good zipdrive in a
broken computer. Is there an external case available that he can
mount the zip drive in and plug it all in to the laptop with USB? I
already have cases like that for 3.5 and laptop harddrives, but my
googling for this has been unsuccessful. If I know there is such a
thing, I'll keep looking.

So are asking about an *internal* zip drive in the old computer?
Wasn't that sitting in a 5.25-inch drive bay? You never mentioned what
interface is used for the data cable to the Zip drive (IDE or SATA).
Seems like you could use a 5.25-inch external case with a USB
interface. Assuming it was a 5.25-inch drive with an IDE interface, go
look at http://preview.tinyurl.com/2flqje3.


The last internal zip I saw sat in a 3.5" bay, and had an IDE interface.

Newegg and other vendors list external USB boxes for them, too. The OP
thinks the form factor dictates the type of drive inside. Wrong.

mm wrote:

On Sun, 6 Jun 2010 00:31:44 -0500, VanguardLH
wrote:

mm wrote:

A friend has a laptop and some zip disks, and a good
zipdrive in a broken computer. Is there an external case
available that he can mount the zip drive in and plug it
all in to the laptop with USB? I already have cases like
that for 3.5 and laptop harddrives, but my
googling for this has been unsuccessful. If I know
there is such a thing, I'll keep looking.

So are asking about an *internal* zip drive in the old
computer?

Yes, internal.

Wasn't that sitting in a 5.25-inch drive bay?

I can't remember.

You never mentioned what
interface is used for the data cable to the Zip drive (IDE
or SATA).

That's because I don't know. It's not my computer and the
last time I saw it opened was several years ago, and I
probably dind't notice even then.

I sort of thought a Zip drive would be like a floppy drive
electronically. ??

Seems like you could use a 5.25-inch external case with a
USB
interface. Assuming it was a 5.25-inch drive with an IDE
interface, go look at http://preview.tinyurl.com/2flqje3.

Getting close.

Aha, 3 of the four have pictures of the box and the box
says it's good for CD and DVD in addition to harddrive,
but no mention of Zip.

Internal Zip drives have IDE interface; their heyday was
long before SATA. Mine is 3-1/2" form factor with an adapter
that converts it to 5-1/4" (like CD). It appears on the bus
as a hard drive, not a floppy. I have never tried putting
one into a USB external CD enclosure, but I think it will
work fine. I also have IOmega's version of a USB connected
external Zip drive ... sort of what you're aiming to build.

On 6/6/2010 12:50, mm wrote:
A friend has a laptop and some zip disks, and a good zipdrive in a
broken computer.

Tell your friend to transfer all data from the zip disks into DVD-R as
soon as possible! The disks could go bad in no time!

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On 6/6/2010 12:50 AM, mm wrote:
A friend has a laptop and some zip disks, and a good zipdrive in a
broken computer.

Is there an external case available that he can mount the zip drive in
and plug it all in to the laptop with USB?

I already have cases like that for 3.5 and laptop harddrives, but my
googling for this has been unsuccessful. If I know there is such a
thing, I'll keep looking.

Thanks.

Why not just beg/borrow/steal a working desktop computer of similar vintage
and temporarily install the ZIP drive in that? It would then be possible to
copy the contents of the ZIP disks to some other medium which is compatible
with a modern computer. I suggest similar vintage to ensure that the
system's BIOS will recognize that obsolete medium -- I don't think that any
but my oldest system would admit that ZIP drives even exist. This seems to
be the path of least resistance.

Man-wai Chang to The Door (33600bps) wrote:

On 6/6/2010 12:50, mm wrote:
A friend has a laptop and some zip disks, and a good
zipdrive in a broken computer.

Tell your friend to transfer all data from the zip disks
into DVD-R as soon as possible! The disks could go bad in
no time!

One of my clients began using Zip disks for daily data
backup in 1997: six disks used in rotation, one for each
business day in the week. I tested the disks periodically to
assure safe backups, with plans to replace older disks with
new when a failure showed up. They used the same six disks
(and the same Zip drive) for ten years without a single
failure.