Zip Drives & Tape. .
..
...
.
also see Hard Disks & SCSI and CD-ROM
Zip
Drives & Tape.
......
.
also
see Hard Disks & SCSI and CD-ROM
001- What is a "Zip drive"?
002- What is a "Zip disk"?
003- What do I need in order to use a Zip drive?
004- What kind of SCSI interface card do I need?
005- How do I install a Zip drive?
006- How do I get started using the Zip drive?
007- How does Zip Drive speed compare with a hard
disk's speed?
008- Can I use Zip disks to transfer files to/from
other computers?
009- Will forgetting to set the termination switch
cause damage?
010- How does Zip Drive perform with an Apple
HS SCSI card?
011- Is a CMS SCSI card adequate for connecting
a Zip drive?
012- Which SCSI interface works best with a Zip
Drive?
013- Will I be able to format and partition a
Zip disk?
014- Should I let the Finder handle formatting
of new Zip disks?
015- Can I format a Zip disk for HFS?
016- The disk in my Zip Drive is not recognized.
How come?
017- I added SCSI; now, my 3.5" drives often fail
to work. Why?
018- Why do I get this "Ramfast/SCSI is searching
SCSI bus" msg?
019- What's a good utility for doing tape backups
on the GS?
020- What's needed to add a SCSI Tape backup unit?
021- What about tape backup on a IIe?
022- Does Apple's Hi-Speed SCSI card allow swapping
Zip disks?
023- What can I do after the Zip on my Apple SCSI
"sleeps"?
024- What is the "Click of Death"? Is there a
fix?
025- What is a "Qic" tape? A friend needs to read
a Qic-80 tape.
026- How do I restart my HS SCSI + Zip when the
Zip deactivates?
Zip Q&A 001-008 info mainly from the 1996 II Alive review by Eric Dietrich
001- What is a "Zip drive"?
The typical Zip drive is a 100MB removable
media system. Cobalt blue in color,
the popular external drive is compact and light-- about the same size
as the newer
external modems. The model 100s "SCSI Zip" connects to the any computer
with a
SCSI port including the Apple IIgs or IIe equipped with a SCSI interface
card.
The Zip drive is made by Iomega. Price for
the 100MB external model is around
$130. This includes the drive, cable, information sheets, one disk
with "Zip Tools",
and a 3.5" installation diskette. (The material on the zip disk is
PC/Mac compatible and
the diskette is for MS-DOS. This stuff will come in handy should you
wish to be able
to use your Zip drive on a PC with a SCSI port or on a Mac. None of
the software is
required for using the Zip Drive on an Apple II.)
From: David Wilson
Below is updated information on available Zip Drive models:
100MB Zip Drive models now include ...
External- parallel, SCSI, "Plus" (SCSI/parallel), usb
Internal- SCSI, IDE, and three ATAPI drives
250MB Zip Drive models include ...
External- parallel, SCSI, usb
Internal- ATAPI
A Zip drive disk is a cartridge just a bit
larger and thicker than the familiar 3.5"
floppy diskette with a smaller shutter and no physical write-protect
mechanism. It is
rated as among the more rugged moderately-high-density removable disks.
100MB disks sell for around $10. 250MB disks sell for around $20.
003- What do I need to use a Zip drive?
You need an Apple IIgs or Enhanced IIe and a SCSI interface card.
004- What kind of SCSI interface card do I need?
There are three 'popular' options: The Apple
Revision C, The Apple
Hi-Speed, and the RamFAST. The Revision C is older and a bit slower
because it
does not utilize direct memory access (DMA), a feature that the Hi-Speed
and
RamFAST have. The Apple cards are no longer made or supported; but,
you may be
able to buy one at a swap meet.
The Sequential Systems RamFAST has DMA plus
an on-board cache of either
256kB or 1MB, making it the fastest interface available. RamFAST has
a full set
of utilities in ROM, so, it's easy to set up, too.
From: Willie Yeo
Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card users need to remember
that these cards normally
do not supply termination power. (RamFAST does; but, not the Apple
Hi-Speed
SCSI card.) To work properly with the GS, a Zip drive connected
to the Apple
Hi-Speed SCSI card requires either another device that can supply termination
power, or requires a hardware hack on the Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card
to provide
the termination power.
Note: The Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card termination power modification is
detailed
in the Hard Drive and SCSI FAQs.
005- How do I install a Zip drive?
The main Zip installation step is plugging
it in. The drive uses DB-25
connectors and, so, most likely, the cable will plug directly into
your
interface card with no need for an adapter. In case you need an adapter
for an
older 50-pin plug, these can be obtained from Alltech.
If you already have other SCSI devices, the
one currently plugged into the
interface can plug into the Zip. Or, the Zip can be plugged into a
hard disk,
CD-ROM, etc. at any point in the chain of SCSI devices.
Set SCSI ID Number- Every hard disk, CD-ROM drive, etc. on your
SCSI chain
needs its own ID number (0-7). While most devices are flexible and
will allow
you to choose any available ID, Zip gives you a choice of two: 5 or
6. If you
are using an Apple Hi-Speed card and you already have a hard disk,
you'll have
to set the Zip to 5 in order to continue to boot off of your hard disk
(which
needs to be 6). The RamFAST is somewhat more flexible in that it doesn't
take
ID 7 for itself and will allow you to boot from any SCSI device.
Set Termination- Another consideration is termination. If all
you have
connected to your SCSI card is the Zip Drive, then you should set the
switch on
the back to turn ON the termination. If you have other devices that
come after
the Zip, then you should set it to OFF. (Actually, the Zip presents
a light
termination load and can be left with termination ON whether or not
it is the
last device.) The last device in the chain (the one farthest
from the
interface) should always have termination set ON.
Hardware-wise, that's it. In all likelihood,
your setup will work fine. If not,
you can get help from experts at Alltech, post a question on comp.sys.apple2,
or, even, read the documentation that came with your SCSI card (when
all
else fails ...).
006- How do I get started using the Zip drive?
Once your drive is connected, its time to start
your machine and prepare a
Zip disk for use. The Advanced Disk Utility (on a IIgs) or the utility
that
came with your SCSI card can do formatting and set up partitions (i.e.
create
named "Volumes"). Usually, with new for-PC Disks, just partitioning
is required
for use under ProDOS. Each 100MB disk can hold three max-size (32MB)
ProDOS
partitions.
If your interface is a RamFAST rev. D 3.01f
or later model, you will be
able to treat Zip disks much like large floppies. They will mount and
unmount
properly in the GS Finder, etc..
Most other interface cards will want to treat
your Zip Drive and disk like
a hard disk. This is because the cards were designed before removable
high-density R/W media became popular. You may be able to swap in a
disk after
booting; but, the new disk is likely to be treated as though it is
the disk
which was present during power-up. This could lead to messed-up partitions,
lost files, and other problems. With such interface cards, the safe
way to swap
Zip disks is to turn OFF the computer.
007-How does Zip Drive speed compare with a hard disk speed?
Iomega claims 29ms average access time, which
is slower than modern hard
disks but, still, very speedy.
008- Can I use Zip disks to transfer files to/from other computers?
Mac--> IIgs
Yes. However, Macs put a driver on the disk
as well as a partition map.
Both look like partitions to the IIgs. Since the IIgs can't read them,
it will
ask you to format or eject. Here's a trick you can try: When you insert
a
Mac-formatted Zip, just click "eject" until the disk mounts. The IIgs
will then
ignore the extra Mac stuff, and mount just the legitimate volume(s).
(E. D.)
From: Supertimer
Mac <--> IIgs
Shared HFS GS/Mac disks should be formatted
on the IIGS because the IIGS
tends to provide a format that is acceptable to both platforms while
the Mac tends
to ignore the needs of the IIGS.
Besides the standard Apple Disk Utility (ADU),
you will need GenEx. GenEx
extracts the generic Mac SCSI driver from ADU's resource fork and puts
it into the
IIGS' drivers folder. Thus, when ADU looks in that folder, it finds
and installs the
driver and does not give the "no mac driver found" error.
You can download GenEx (GenEx.shk)
from Ground. GenEx info is available
as GenEx.shk.txt.
Once you get GenEx, use the following procedure to prepare Zip disks:
Go to the Apple Advanced Disk Utility (ADU) on the IIgs and select Partition
Drive.
Delete all the partitions except one and resize that one partition
to fill up the entire
drive. Click on the button to repartition the drive. At this point,
ADU will ask you if
you want to low level format and warn you that it is going to take
a long time.
Click on Yes.
ADU will wipe the drive. By doing it this way, you are giving ADU a
clean slate to
install the GenericMacSCSI driver onto the drive.
Finally, initialize the HFS volume.
Surprise, the new Zip disk works on both the
IIGS and Mac without annoying
errors!
From: John Holmes and Tarage
PC--> IIgs (also, maybe, IIgs--> PC and PC <--> Mac)
DataViz sells a product called MacOpener 2000
for machines running Windows
that actually allows you to use all HFS formats, except for 400K/800K
floppies, on
your PC while running Windows. This goes not only for reading the media
but also
writing and formatting as well.
I put a zip disk in my Parallel Port Zip drive
on my PC and formatted it HFS and
copied some of the //gs software I had downloaded. It worked on my
IIgs (equipped
with a SCSI zip 250 drive) like a charm!
From: Supertimer and Rubywand
PC<-->IIgs
You can use MUG! to R/W MS-DOS formatted Zip
disks. Mug! (mug101.bxy)
along with an info file is on Ground.
MUG! is an NDA (New Desk Accessory) which must
be started from the 'Apple
menu' (click on the Apple symbol) available at the top of a typical
GS desktop-type
display.
One thing to be aware of is that MUG! should
be used from an application other than
Finder (the usual main GS "desktop display"). The Finder and
many other applications
will do a drive check, find the MS-DOS Zip disk, and respond with something
like:
"Installed FSTs do not recognize disk, do you wish to format it or
eject it?".
MUG! seems to work fine when selected from
Platinum Paint or PMPUnZip. (If
you start from Platinum Paint, be sure to go to 640 mode first in order
to be able to
see the entire MUG! display.) PMPUnZip is, probably, your best
bet because it is a
relatively small program.
Once, say, PMPUnZip is started, you can insert
your PC Zip MS-DOS Zip disk
and start MUG!. Setting the Copy option to "to GS/OS", I copied several
.shk, .wav,
and .jpg files from the Zip Disk to /RAM5 RAM disk with no problem.
009- Sometimes I forget to set the termination switch correctly
after using my Zip drive on another machine.
Will this damage
anything?
If you normally connect your Zip drive somewhere
in the middle of your
Apple II SCSI chain and forget to turn OFF termination, it probably
does no
harm. The Zip is said to have rather "weak" termination-- i.e. its
termination
resistors present a relatively light load. This may explain why GS
users report
no data loss problems on Zip or other devices when Zip is located in
the middle
of a SCSI chain with termination set to ON.
If your Zip drive is normally connected at
the end of your Apple II SCSI
chain and you forget to set it to ON, there is a decent chance of Zip
drive
Read and Write errors.
010- How does Zip Drive perform with an Apple HS SCSI card?
I had many problems when I first started with the Iomega Zip on my GS
and it
isn't the most reliable thing - But it works.
1.) Make sure that the Zipdrive is hooked directly to your HS Apple SCSI card.
2.) Chain your Zipdrive to the external HD which you will be using.
3.) Attach a terminator adapter to the back of the remaining port on
your
external HD - The Zipdrive has a weak termination and requires another
terminator source.
As for getting your GS to recognize the Zipdrive in all applications:
1.) Turn on your Zipdrive
2.) Turn on your external HD
3.) Turn on the GS
4.) Put the Zipdisk in the drive before GSOS is booted so that it may
be
scanned and recognized.
Last, if you are working on the GS for a long time and suddenly the
Zipdrive
Icons don't pop up when you load Finder, simply eject the zipdisk and
push it
back into the drive.
011- Is a CMS SCSI interface card adequate for connecting a Zip drive?
I have had a Zip Drive hooked to a CMS SCSI
card (1990 ROM) for 2-3
years in my IIgs without a hitch. Basically you just go into the setup
for the CMS
card. It will partition the drive into 32 meg sections which you can
access two at
a time-- It makes three on a Zip disk. Then once GS/OS is booted it
tells you
that the disk is unreadable and asks if you want it formatted and you
hit ok for
each virtual drive and there you have it. (I never tried formatting
it with HFS
since I didn't need a partition larger than 32megs.)
The one thing to remember is DON'T EJECT THE
DISK while booted.
Go to shutdown first and, when it tells you to shut it off, then change
disks.
From: David Empson
I would strongly discourage using the CMS card.
It is designed to work with
CMS hard drives. I don't know how well it can handle removable SCSI
devices;
and, it might not be able to handle more than 64 MB. So even if you
can get the
card to work with the ZIP drive, you may not be able to access all
of the disk.
Another problem is that the CMS card doesn't
support the standard partitioning
scheme used by other Apple II SCSI cards. It uses a set of jumpers
on the card
to configure the partition sizes, and doesn't support the partition
map mechanism
at all. In other words, it uses "hard partitioning".
See if you can get hold of an Apple or RamFast
SCSI card, which follow all the
standards as far as partitioning goes.
012- Which SCSI interface works best with a Zip Drive?
Your best choice is the version 3.01f RamFAST.
Along with good speed,
Direct Memory Access support, and on-ROM utilities, you also get an
interface
which permits ejecting a Zip disk and mounting a new Zip disk from
the System 6
Finder. (There is no need to restart the system in order to swap disks.)
The RamFAST 3.01f also supports a variety of
CD-ROM drives and hard disk
drives.
From: Supertimer
The same can be said of the Apple High Speed
SCSI. With a partitioned Zip
disk (or CD-ROM), you have to lasso or shift-click to highlight all
the partitions
and drag them to the trash to eject the disk. (As long as one partition
remains on
the desktop, the disk stays in.) There is no need to turn off
the computer to swap
disks. The interface is a bit slower than RamFAST. However, it actually
supports
MORE hard disk drives than the RamFAST.
From: David Empson
The problem with non-support of removable devices only applies to the
original Apple
SCSI card, not the high-speed one, and even then it only applies underProDOS-8.
You just need to be careful not to switch disks without rebooting,
because it won't
realize that a new disk (potentially with different partitioning) is
in the drive.
013- Will I be able to format and partition a Zip disk using the
standard 6.0.1 tools disk?
Yes.
If you have a RamFAST, you also have the option
of using the RamFAST
utilities. These are on ROM on the RamFAST board. They should be copied
to disk
or hard disk and run from there. RAMFAST.SYSTEM will handle ProDOS
partitioning
and low-level formatting.
Since Zip disks are already formatted, you
will, mainly, be concerned with
setting up partitions. On a 100MB Zip disk, the best partitioning is
three 32MB
ProDOS volumes. Setting up partitions takes less than a minute. A low-level
reformat of a 100MB Zip disk may take 10 minutes or more.
014- Should I just let the System Finder handle formatting of
new Zip disks?
If you are at the usual System Desktop display
and insert a new, "blank"
Zip disk, you will be told that the disk's format is not recognized
and asked
if you want to have it formatted. Assuming you want ProDOS volumes
or multiple
HFS volumes, you should answer "NO":
A new Zip disk is already formatted; what you need is to have it partitioned--
good, because partitioning takes about 30 seconds whereas a format
takes 9-10
minutes.
ProDOS is limited to 32,768kB ("32MB") per partition. The Finder does
not know
how to correctly format and partition a 100MB ProDOS disk.
Reminder: If you want a disk to be able to boot ProDOS or any version
of GS/OS
(as in System 6.0.1), at least the first partition must be formatted
for
ProDOS.
From: Supertimer
I say "Yes", _if_ you want one big HFS-formatted
Zip disk. (Unlike ProDOS,
HFS allows volumes larger than 32MB.) Letting the Finder format the
Zip disk
for HFS gives you a 96MB (partition-table-less) "diskette" that's faster
than
one that has been partitioned, even if the partition = the whole disk.
The "partitionless" HFS volume generated by
formatting PC Zip disks from
the Finder behaves just like a floppy and ejects and mounts like one
(but with
a hard disk icon).
015- Can I format a Zip disk for HFS; and, can HFS and ProDOS
volumes exist on the same Zip disk?
Yes. System 6 with HFS.FST in the SYSTEM/FSTS
folder supports Read, Write,
Formatting, and Partitioning of HFS disks. The standard Apple Advanced
Disk
Utilities (ADU) program lets you set up a Zip disk as a single 100MB
HFS volume
or divide it into partitions.
Note: A "partition" is a "volume". In most respects, partitions on a
Hard Disk
or Zip disk are treated like separate disks. Each partition has its
own volume
name and appears on the System Finder display with its own icon.
You can, if you like, have ProDOS and HFS partitions
on the same Zip disk.
One easy way to do this is to set up, say, three ProDOS partitions
and, then,
have ADU "Initialize" a partition as HFS. If you want to be able to
boot from
the Zip disk, at least the first partition must be ProDOS.
016- Often, when I power-ON my computer, the disk
in my Zip Drive
is not recognized. What's the problem?
Almost immediately after power-up, your SCSI
interface begins checking for
devices. Most likely, the problem is that your SCSI interface checks
the Zip
Drive before it is ready and decides no disk is present.
The cure is to put your Zip Drive, CD-ROM drive,
etc. on a separate power
line. These devices should be switched ON 5-10 seconds before powering-ON
the
computer. If you depend upon reading SCSI setup information from your
Zip Drive--
like, if it is the only write-able device on the SCSI chain-- then
a Zip disk
on which the setup info has been saved should be inserted after the
drive is
switched ON and before powering-ON the computer.
017- Sometimes the 3.5" drives on my GS do not
function correctly.
This started after adding a SCSI interface
card. Is there
a fix?
This problem seems to crop up from time to
time when a SCSI interface is
present, especially when no device is connected and recognized on the
SCSI
chain. Evidently, something (e.g. a register or softswitch) in the
usual GS
power-up routine relating to on-line devices gets messed up.
Inserting a 3.5" diskette into Drive 1 before
or just after power-up
usually forces recognition of 3.5" diskette drives and enables correct
functioning.
018- I get this message 'Ramfast/SCSI is searching the SCSI bus for
devices..etc.' Never had this problem
before-- only does it
on a cold boot.
When you reinstalled the software, the RAMFast
set itself for a long
search. This is an option that you can change using the RAMFast utility.
What
it is doing is giving your scsi devices a chance to spin up. If you
want a fast
check, go to the options menu on the utilities and reset the Short
Timeout
option there to "YES".
019- What's a good utility for doing tape backups on the GS?
Here follows an unpaid testimonial:
The Tim Grams GS desktop SCSI
backup utility called "GSTape" works great! I got it for
an old Apple Tape
40SC, did several backup/restores, and then ran across a 2GB DAT drive.
Yep, it
worked with no problems, too! (-:
From: Devin Reade
As one of those very satisfied customers, I
testify that for someone with
a SCSI tape drive, GSTape is very much worth the money. It is
reliable and
simple to operate in both backup and restore mode. It has an
appropriate
script capability and, although I have not used this feature, it allows
timed
backups (so that you don't have to be present).
It is _much_ better than the RAMFast built-in tape backup program.
I currently
use it to backup both SCSI and Vulcan (IDE) hard drives.
020- I have a IIgs ROM01 with system 6.0 and I am trying to add a
SCSI Tape backup unit. I have an Apple
Hi-Speed SCSI card
and 2 drives connected currently. The tape
drive is off an old
unix box. I have the ID set to 3. I loaded
the system 6.0 SCSI
tape driver but nothing showed up on the
desktop. What's wrong?
I have recently gone thru this dilemma myself...
First of all, I believe
that the GS driver is partial to the 3M mechanism as found in the Apple
SC40
tape unit. I tried a Tecmar drive (whatever mechanism that is) on my
GS, and
though it recognized the drive on boot as a SCSI device, when I went
into
archiver to try to back something up it didn't acknowledge the drive's
presence, although the SCSITAPE device showed up in GS/OS. I later
found a good
deal on an SC40 and hooked it up and it works perfectly, though I am
still
curious about making the Tecmar work, though I doubt it will.
#1. I have read that you should set the SCSI ID on a tape drive to 0
(lowest
priority) if this will help any... this seemed to eliminate annoying
searching
of the tape drive on boot.
#2. Another thing-- The tape drive will NOT show up on the System desktop.
It
does not work like a regular drive. You need a special program (aka
Archiver in
GSOS or I believe there are some 8 bit programs, too) that knows how
to store
files on the tape.
Open Advanced Disk Utilities when in GSOS and
see if the SCSITAPE unit is
present-- then you will know the drive was identified ok. Then the
next test--
see if you can backup. Open archiver, set your "backup to..."
device as
SCSITAPE and hit start.
When the thing says "insert first backup tape"
you insert a tape and hit
OK. If it starts giving you errors or repeating the message, then GS/OS
doesn't
like your tape unit. If it works... then go out for a pizza or something
while
the thing whiles away at your files. Try recovering selected files
after the
backup to make sure the archive went ok so you can begin trusting in
your tape
backups.
From: Bill Harris
The device number (other than being unique) should not be relevent to
backing
up to tape. I've always used something in the middle range of
numbers for my
tape, typically id 3 or 4. This included when I was still
using the RF prom
for backup.
From: Rubywand
RamFAST has a Backup function you can get to via Ramfast.system.
You need to have the "HD Backup" option under
the [O]ptions menu set to
"No" in order to use tape (instead of something like a Zip Drive) for
backup.
Then, you can select [B]ackup from the main menu bar.
Regarding the SCSI device number setting, 3
may be fine on a RamFAST.
Probably, you would want to remove any Apple drivers named "SCSI ..."
from the
DRIVERS/ folder to eliminate possible conflicts with the Ramfast driver.
021- What about tape backup on a IIe?
The RamFAST has built-in volume image backup
software (in background).
The only backup software I know of for the //e for tape drives is by
Tim Grams
and it only works with an Apple Rev. C SCSI and the Apple Tape Backup
40SC (3m
MCD-40). This software is no longer supported though.
022- I've heard that Apple's Hi-Speed SCSI card does not
allow swapping Zip disks without turning
OFF the computer.
Is this true?
No. The Apple Hi-Speed SCSI interface allows
ejecting and swapping
removable disks. With a partitioned Zip disk (or CD-ROM), you have
to lasso or
shift-click to highlight all the partitions and drag them to the trash
to eject
the disk. (As long as one partition remains on the desktop, the disk
stays in.)
There is no need to turn off the computer to swap disks.
023- What can I do after the Zip drive connected to my Apple SCSI
goes into Sleep Mode?
A solution is "goosing" the drive by manually
ejecting and reinserting it.
Apparently, using the SCSI driver for the Apple Card that was sold
by Tulin
Technologies solves a lot of troubles with the Apple card and a Zip
drive. You
can get the Tulin SCSI driver from ...
Mr. Wing Chung (104465.3171@COMPUSERVE.COM)
for $20.
024- What is the "Click of Death"? Is there a fix?
Your drive starts to make repeated clicking
sounds and soon fails.
Disks in a drive which Clicks may be corrupted and, if placed in a
good
drive, may cause a good drive to start Clicking.
If your Zip drive starts to do noticeable clicking,
the standard advice
is to immediately eject the disk or, if this is not possible, turn
OFF power
to the drive (or pull out the power connector on the side of the drive).
This may save the drive if the disk is bad or save the disk if the
drive has
gone bad.
The reason for click death is that the lube
on the two tiny square rails
that the head assembly travels back and forth on dries out! (Evidently,
Iomega's earlier machines used better quality lube than that used in
some
later production runs.)
When the head assembly can no longer reach
track 0, the drive thinks
it's there so it writes track 0 elsewhere on the disk. Later, when
even
that track 0 can't be found, the drive beats itself to death trying
to
find track 0. This is why click death disks can damage a good
drive as
the drives beat themselves to death trying to read track 0 on the bad
disk. I've successfully repaired the drives by opening them up and
relubing the rails with a good lube.
I've had success with repairing the directories
on disks destroyed
by 'click death' drives. I'd tried reformatting the disks on Win95
and 98
machines but the format utility (even long format with verify) gives
up
too quickly and reports the disk is either locked or damaged.
Scandisk
refuses to even look at the disks and reports there is something wrong
with them.
Using the Win3.1 guiutil.exe on an old 486,
I was able to reformat
the disks and they now work fine on all the various machines I've tried
them on. This may work with internal drives too but I use my good external
parallel drive and click on the drive icon and select format from the
menu. When the disk starts to click, press eject and a message will
appear
that the disk has a format and would you like to continue formatting
with
verify.
Re-inject the disk, select continue and the
format/verify will run for
9 minutes and 27 seconds, successfully repairing the disk every time
I've
tried it this way (I've repaired 23 disks so far by this method including
a couple my friend was ready to throw out as he had tried just about
everything - even a Mac). Scandisk will even verify the disk
is fine and
I've had no further problems with any of the disks repaired in this
manner. Is the older version a better program? I think
it's that the
Win3.1 guiutil.exe doesn't scrutinize the disks as much as the later
versions do and simply does the deed, which is the best way.
This method shouldn't work either but it does.
Give it a try before
heaving your disks. I constantly use the repaired disks and have never
had a repeat failure with them.
Note: There is no guarantee that every drive or disk can be repaired
as described above. Some drives or disks may be too badly trashed.
Download
guiutil.exe
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025- What is a "Qic" tape? A friend needs to read a Qic-80 tape.
QIC-80 is a format, not a brand or a specifier of capacity. Uncompressed
capacity for tapes in this format range from 60 megs (DC2120) to 250
megs (TR-1
Extra). It was preceded by QIC-40 and has since been superseded
by QIC-3010,
QIC-3020, and QIC-3095 (the latter format delivers 4 gigabytes (uncompressed)
on a TR-4 tape, and is available in SCSI and IDE flavors for fast operation).
I'm not sure what format the 40-meg tape drive Apple used to sell used...it
might've been QIC-80 with a shorter tape (they use DC2000 tapes), but
it was
probably different. I've never had one. For my GS, the tape drive
I currently
use is an Archive Viper 60S (QIC-24 format, SCSI interface, puts 60
megs on a
DC600 cartridge).
026- How do I restart my HS SCSI + Zip when the Zip deactivates?
The problem is with the Apple SCSI driver.
The Zip drive normally
deactivates itself after a period of time to conserve energy. The Apple
SCSI
driver fails to reactivate the Zip when the IIGS tries to access it.
If this
happens in some programs, data can get corrupted. If it happens in
the Finder,
the Finder will ask you if you want to format the Zip disk.
You can reacivate your Zip by hitting the eject
button and pushing the Zip
disk back into the drive after it has ejected. People call this "goosing"
the
Zip drive. It works and reactivates the Zip.
One complete fix is to replace the Apple SCSI
driver with the Tulin one.
Some former Tulin employee on Compuserve sells it for $20.
