[muglo] Re: USB 250-meg Zip with 10.3.9--Again!

On 11/18/05, Leith Peterson <leithriver7@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> As some of you may remember, I've had an ongoing problem with my usb
> 250-meg zip and my iBook G3 900 combo running OS 10.3.9 and 9.2.2.  I
> have been in discussions with Iomega and they recommended removing
> the Iomegaware 4.0.2 software that I had on the OS 9.2.2 portion of
> the drive.  I did this, including removing the relevant extensions
> completely from the Extensions Manager.  This appeared to solve the
> problem initially, but now it's even worse than before.

Just an FYI: removing the Classic OS driver from the drive would *not*
affect OS X.

> be the route I have to go in the future, but I've invested quite a
> bit in zips and would like to stay with this method for the time
> being, mainly because they are fast and I can transfer files between
> the G3 and my other computers.

You may want to consider a USB "flash" drive. They've come down in
price dramatically recently, and, I'm sure there are people on this
list who are intimately familiar with them (the only flash drive I've
really used has been my 512 MB iPod Shuffle, free care of TD-Canada
Trust ;-).

e.g. <http://www.sonnam.com/detail.asp?S=3D700253751&prod_gp=3D33&prod_code=
=3D171&prod_ID=3D740617076615>

$25 for a 256 MB with compatibility with Mac.

> The problem now is that the zip is not recognized at startup, besides
> the ongoing problem of having to eject twice.  However, I've found
> that if I simply remove the usb device and put it back in after
> startup, it appears to work fine.  I've asked Iomega about this and
> they said if it works do it, and that it may be caused by a problem
> with the usb controllers or ports.

A USB hub may help in this case. It's a "hub" into which you plug USB
devices, and the hub itself usually gets plugged into the Mac's USB
port. You'd want a "self powered" hub.

> According to the Apple OS 10 website, zips should work with OS 10, so
> that hasn't helped me.
>
> My question is, do you know if disconnecting and reconnecting the zip
> after startup can do any harm to my software and/or hardware?  Pls
> advise.  Thanks.

No, it will not damage your hardware/software if done right. USB is
designed to be "hot swapable" so your hardware is safe.

HOWEVER, to protect data on your disk you must ALWAYS eject any Zip
disks using the Finder interface BEFORE unplugging the Zip drive (i.e.
in the Finder, select the Zip icon and type command-E or drag the Zip
disk to the trash/eject button).

Eric.
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