[SOLVED] Any way to use an Iomega Zip drive on a modern PC?

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Wraith_3

Distinguished
Jul 28, 2017 41 0 18,530

I have some of my grandpa's ZIP disks and they aren't marked and I need to make sure there aren't any family photos on them. He has a ZIP drive (mine is looooong gone) and it has a 50pin SCSI (I think) ribbon cable. Neither PC I have has a connector on the mobo for it any more. Is there any way I can get something that will let me hook it up?

richiestang_78

I remember that they do have adapters but they were hard to find even back when SCSI was getting phased out to USB so today its probably going to be very hard.

You'll probably have an easier time finding a used USB Zipdrive or even a IDE Zipdrive then a IDE to USB adapter. Looking on eBay the USB Zipdrives seem to be going for around 15-30 USD.

richiestang_78

Glorious
Mar 3, 2015 5,967 690 46,890

I remember that they do have adapters but they were hard to find even back when SCSI was getting phased out to USB so today its probably going to be very hard.

You'll probably have an easier time finding a used USB Zipdrive or even a IDE Zipdrive then a IDE to USB adapter. Looking on eBay the USB Zipdrives seem to be going for around 15-30 USD.

Wraith_3

Distinguished
Jul 28, 2017 41 0 18,530

Ok, thanks. I'm now weighing whether to buy one because I'm about 90% sure I'll do that and they will all be blank!

TerryLaze

Polypheme
May 9, 2016 9,987 2,689 63,440

You could also get a PCI scsi card to hook it up but I have to say I used to have a scsi one back in the day and it was really slow I used a USB one lately on windows 10 (it installed drivers automatically) and it was super fast,maybe it's because of the CPU though.

Deleted member 14196

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The zip discs are probably all bad by now

PoisonousMarrow(UK)

Jan 11, 2021 2 0 10

I have some of my grandpa's ZIP disks and they aren't marked and I need to make sure there aren't any family photos on them. He has a ZIP drive (mine is looooong gone) and it has a 50pin SCSI (I think) ribbon cable. Neither PC I have has a connector on the mobo for it any more. Is there any way I can get something that will let me hook it up?

SomeNerdyKnowItAll-NoRly

Jun 15, 2021 1 0 10 . even a IDE Zipdrive then a IDE to USB adapter. .

Except that won't work. I have tried many many IDE to USB adapters on my IDE ZIP drive (with jumpers on Master, Slave, or either with or without the "A" jumper) and none work.
If you ever find one that does work, please let me know.

The zip discs are probably all bad by now

You'd be surprised. I just took my two Parallel Zip drives (and one IDE) from storage along with about 50 disks. They all still work and one had files on I thought I had lost forever.