16 replies to this topic

[Lynxpro]

I thought there had been some discussions on using ZIP drives with [Mega] STEs, TTs, and Falcons but I'm coming up with a dead end using the search feature here.

Is it possible to use an Iomega ZIP100 [Plus] SCSI external drive with, say, the Falcon? Wouldn't it simply need a driver and/or something like ICD's software? I just picked up one for $10 at a local surplus store last night because I was afraid my old external parallel port version probably wouldn't work...

[DarkLord]

I never used a ZIP drive with the Falcon but I used an EZ-135 and it worked fine when I was
using SCSI. They should be relatively close, as far as operation goes...

I've always used HDDriver and it found it fine.

[Zogging Hell]

Yep shouldn't be an issue, it is seen like any other SCSI drive. Zip disks are cheap as well. I just picked up 19 for about £4. Should work on a Falcon with no probs with the appropriate cable (remember the zip has a standard mac plus style 50 pin connector, whereas the Falcon has a later SCSI (2) connector). The zip drive can also only be one of two ID no's on the scsi chain so make sure it doesn't clash with anything else. Also if you use it on an early ST it might require a double reset for it to be recognised (I have this with my Syquest Ezflyer on an STFM, which needs a couple of resets to recognise the first time, after which it's fine, Ezflyer by contrast is now not cheap and the disks are expensive!). I used AHDI (the Cubase Audio version), ICD and HD Driver with the Ezflyer, so I imagine the zip, being older, would be no different.

[Lynxpro]

Zogging Hell, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 8:07 AM, said:

Yep shouldn't be an issue, it is seen like any other SCSI drive. Zip disks are cheap as well. I just picked up 19 for about £4. Should work on a Falcon with no probs with the appropriate cable (remember the zip has a standard mac plus style 50 pin connector, whereas the Falcon has a later SCSI (2) connector). The zip drive can also only be one of two ID no's on the scsi chain so make sure it doesn't clash with anything else. Also if you use it on an early ST it might require a double reset for it to be recognised (I have this with my Syquest Ezflyer on an STFM, which needs a couple of resets to recognise the first time, after which it's fine, Ezflyer by contrast is now not cheap and the disks are expensive!). I used AHDI (the Cubase Audio version), ICD and HD Driver with the Ezflyer, so I imagine the zip, being older, would be no different.

So I guess I'd need an external SCSI I port-to SCSI 2 port cable then. Back to the surplus store I go! £4 is definitely not too shabby for a bunch of discs [as long as they work].

Maybe I'll pick up a ZIP250 there if any of the ones they have are SCSI [although I think they only have USB versions in stock].


I just figured outside of getting the floppy-SD conversion or a cartridge-port-to-ethernet adapter, using the ZIP100 Plus drive would probably be the easiest way to move data from a spare PC [that has an ATA ZIP installed] over to the Falcon. And I'd probably use it first to back up the stock 44MB Conner HD in the Falcon before upgrading that to an internally mounted Compact Flash drive.


I picked up the ZIP100 Plus because it has the switch on it in-between the parallel port and the SCSI port so that should make detection easier than on the regular ZIP100 models from what I've read elsewhere.

DarkLord, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 12:19 AM, said:

I never used a ZIP drive with the Falcon but I used an EZ-135 and it worked fine when I was
using SCSI. They should be relatively close, as far as operation goes...
I've always used HDDriver and it found it fine.

Awesome!

What I'm really dreading is when I finally remove the 44MB HD from the Falcon and put in the Compact Flash drive and then have to figure out how to set it all back up after 20 years have gone by since I set up XBoot and all the other stuff. Too much Mac/PC pollution in my brain since then!

[Zogging Hell]

I think the connector is more important than the SCSI type. They are completely compatible, AFAIK, just a difference in total 'speed'. You could just buy a small adaptor to convert whatever SCSI cable you have to connect to one or the other rather than a whole cable. If you already have a cable with the Falcon end correctly, it should be fairly easy to get a convertor to change it to the Mac like 50pin, pretty much as it was the most common connection size for SCSI out there.

[moulinaie]

I have an IDE ZIP drive as Slave on my Falcon, works fine with HD Driver.

Guillaume.

[Lynxpro]

moulinaie, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 2:36 PM, said:

I have an IDE ZIP drive as Slave on my Falcon, works fine with HD Driver.
Guillaume.

Do you have your Falcon in a tower or rack case? Or do you have an IDE cable protruding from out of the standard case to hook up that ZIP drive?

[moulinaie]

Lynxpro, on Thu Feb 2, 2012 10:52 AM, said:

Do you have your Falcon in a tower or rack case? Or do you have an IDE cable protruding from out of the standard case to hook up that ZIP drive?

I have a photo !!!
In fact the IDE connector goes out from the original case and I have both the 3"1/2 IDE hard drive and the ZIP on top of the case.

You can see that on my web page:

http://gtello.pagesp...fr/falcon_e.htm (english)
http://gtello.pagesp...fr/falcon_f.htm (français)

Guillaume.

[Guitarman]

The JAZ drive works great too. I have a 2gb JAZ I use on my Falcon and it works great!!

[Lynxpro]

moulinaie, on Thu Feb 2, 2012 12:01 PM, said:

Lynxpro, on Thu Feb 2, 2012 10:52 AM, said:

Do you have your Falcon in a tower or rack case? Or do you have an IDE cable protruding from out of the standard case to hook up that ZIP drive?

I have a photo !!!
In fact the IDE connector goes out from the original case and I have both the 3"1/2 IDE hard drive and the ZIP on top of the case.

You can see that on my web page:

http://gtello.pagesp...fr/falcon_e.htm (english)
http://gtello.pagesp...fr/falcon_f.htm (français)

Guillaume.

You sir, are hard core!

I'm in awe.

Guitarman, on Thu Feb 2, 2012 2:04 PM, said:

The JAZ drive works great too. I have a 2gb JAZ I use on my Falcon and it works great!!

Nice. I apparently was unaware that they had a ZIP750 drive at the end of the product line's life.

So, does the ZIP100 parallel even work on a Falcon/TT/STE or do all of the Atari 16/32-bit lines suffer from "inferior" parallel ports?

[moulinaie]

Lynxpro, on Thu Feb 2, 2012 11:09 PM, said:

So, does the ZIP100 parallel even work on a Falcon/TT/STE or do all of the Atari 16/32-bit lines suffer from "inferior" parallel ports?

Our // port can't manage the ZIP drives. Unfortunatelly...
I remember, long time ago, a project was there to correct this: One or two more centronics lines were added (through ROM port? can't remember). At the time, it was to use the // scanners. But I never saw the project complete.

Guillaume.

[Paolo]

May I add that I use a ZIP SCSI drive as well?

No adapters, just the original cable straight into the SCSI post of the Falcon.
I would like to add a SCSI CD burner, but I can't find an external/internal SCSI adapter, so...

It would be fun, though...

[guus.assmann]

Hello Paolo,

There are SCSI CD-burners. So what's keeping you?
But you will need to be patient. The fastest one I've been able to find is quad-speed.

BR/
Guus

[Paolo]

The problem is that it is an INTERNAL cd burner, and I don't want the hassle of hand-making a SCSI internal/external converter

[guus.assmann]

Hello Paolo,

Whell, that's easy to solve. There are cases available with a PSU, connectors and a switch to set the address.
Those are mostly with SCSI type 1 connectors. This is a big size Centronics, like the one that used to be on Matrix printers, only bigger.
Most of the time, there's a syquest drive in there, but that has the same casing as the CD stuff.
Apple used to have several models and they can be quite cheap.
And there are cables with SCSI 1 om one side and the type 2 on the other side.

BR/
Guus

[Lynxpro]

Paolo, on Wed Feb 15, 2012 7:06 AM, said:

May I add that I use a ZIP SCSI drive as well?
No adapters, just the original cable straight into the SCSI post of the Falcon.
I would like to add a SCSI CD burner, but I can't find an external/internal SCSI adapter, so...
It would be fun, though...

Alas, my used SCSI ZIP100Plus didn't come with the SCSI cable, just the parallel cable...

[guus.assmann]

Hello Lynxpro and Paolo

Have a look at this, it's what I mean. Should not be too expensive and the seller will most likely ba able to answer in English and sent to any place.
http://muziek.marktp...fta_ind=21&fs=1

BR/
Guus