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G4 Zip drive question

G4 Zip drive question PowerPC 12 posts Apr 21, 2008 — May 30, 2008
I just got a bunch of used zip discs for free and some of them won't mount. I can understand if they might be PC format that they wouldn't work, but is there any way I can reformat these discs or at least force my Mac to recognize that they are in the drive? I can't even eject the discs from the desktop, I have to eject them manually.

You might want to see if they are password protected. Go look for the Iomega Zip Tools.

PC format disks worked in my PM 5500 with an external Zip Plus drive and IomegaWare 6.0.2, so it shouldn't just be because they are PC formatted.

In any case, you can always reformat them for the mac. As long as they aren't damaged, that is.

I read PC formatted zip 100 disks in my powermacs just fine (2 beige g3's and 2 B&Ws).

Any chance you stuck a zip 250 disk into a zip 100 drive?

In any case, you can always reformat them for the mac. As long as they aren't damaged, that is.
How do I do that?

In any case, you can always reformat them for the mac. As long as they aren't damaged, that is.
How do I do that?
With Iomega Zip Tools.

Can't he format it with Drive Setup? Assuming you are booting into 9 or lower.

In OS X it should appear in Disk Utility.

i have the tools that came on the zip disk i bought new. i thought it would be good to make a backup of them

I just got a bunch of used zip discs for free and some of them won't mount. I can understand if they might be PC format that they wouldn't work, but is there any way I can reformat these discs or at least force my Mac to recognize that they are in the drive? I can't even eject the discs from the desktop, I have to eject them manually.
How do you eject the zip discs manually?

There should be a pinhole on it somewhere that you can insert a paperclip into, like a CD/DVD drive. External zips have it on the back.

I just got a bunch of used zip discs for free and some of them won't mount. I can understand if they might be PC format that they wouldn't work, but is there any way I can reformat these discs or at least force my Mac to recognize that they are in the drive? I can't even eject the discs from the desktop, I have to eject them manually.
How do you eject the zip discs manually?
I pried back the cover on the front of my G4 to expose the eject button underneath. Why Apple obscured the manual eject button like that is beyond all reason.

mp.ls