G4 Zip drive question

#1 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 - 04:07 68kMLA

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.

#2 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 - 04:09 68kMLA

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

#3 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 - 04:32 68kMLA

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.

#4 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 - 05:01 68kMLA

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

#5 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 - 07:07 68kMLA

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?

#6 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 - 15:17 68kMLA

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?

#7 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 - 00:59 68kMLA

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

Click to expand...

How do I do that?

With Iomega Zip Tools.

#8 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 - 03:13 68kMLA

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.

#9 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 - 15:10 68kMLA

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

#10 Thu, 29 May 2008 - 22:48 68kMLA

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?

#11 Fri, 30 May 2008 - 00:45 68kMLA

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.

#12 Fri, 30 May 2008 - 00:58 68kMLA

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.

Click to expand...

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.