Supporting a vintage Mac with ZIP drives, for modern file transfers. last updated Nov 13 2014, Herb Johnson See this Web page for information on Mac drives: http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/m_drives.html Contact Herb Johnson at http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/mailto.html Here's a discussion I had with a customer in Nov 2014. He has an old Mac and uses that Mac's Iomega (brand) ZIP drive, to save and transfer files. He used to give the ZIP disks to a company to print the files; now they won't accept ZIP disks. What can he do? I describe the alternatives and the problems that I (as a business person selling equipment) see about offering those alternatives. - Herb Johnson On 11/08/2014 4:37 PM, Mr. X wrote: > > You probably have what I need but I need your expertise and for you to > answer a couple of questions. > > I have a Power Mac 8100AV which I still use for some graphics projects. > I have been using a ZIP drive and cartridges to transport data/files to > Company Y - a company that accepts customer's files and produces > high-quality prints. They now say they can no longer take ZIP > cartridges. They did say they can take CD's but does that mean CD's from > a CD ROM? My Mac doesn't have a CD-ROM drive. A drive has to be physically able to write CD's, if you want to create your own CD's in the first place. CD-ROM drives are of two kinds. One is a "read only" drive. The other is a "read-write" drive. DVD drives also are of the same two kinds; read only, and read/write. There are some old drives which are DVD-read but CD-read/write. Most modern computers with a DVD drive, will be able to write both DVD's and CD's. Sorry that's complicated, but you are working with 1990's Macs, and you may have to choose among about 25 year's worth of CD and DVD drives. > Obviously, they have newer equipment so I don't know the > compatibility issues. But you might know. If I purchase a CD ROM to > replace my ZIP drive in my SCSI bus, will the output bureau be able to > handle CD's from this CD ROM? Do I need a certain type of CD for the CD > ROM? I have never had any type of CD ROM for this Power Mac. > > Herb, could give me some "coaching" so I get the correct equipment from > you. I have some time to achieve this change of equipment. Thanks for > your help. I will briefly "coach" you. I'll give some general information and refer you to my Web pages, where there's more techical info. After that, I can't provide personal specific help, not without charging for my time and effort - like any business. That's especially true if I don't end up with a "sale", with income, after my "coaching". I've described CD drives. Your 8100 Mac won't operate DVD drives, period. It can operate CD drives, although depending on the OS version, it may or may not include CD-ROM "extensions" to support CD-ROM devices. You can add external CD-ROM drives as external SCSI drives; given the age of an 8100 and how physically fragile they are in 2014, I don't recommend opening one up to add a CD drive. And don't remove your ZIP drive! you need that for backup! And other reasons (as an option I'll suggest). And old Macs won't operate modern "IDE" or "PATA" type drives - that describes the cable interface to hard drives and CD drives. Of course, USB drives are out too. Your Mac uses SCSI - so you'd need an ancient, SCSI, CD-RW (read/write) drive. But...you'd also need CD writing software. I don't know what Mac OS you are running, and I don't know what ancient CD-writing software "out there" will operate some unknown brand and model of CD-writer drive. The problem is, old Macs and old Mac operating systems, don't know what to do with old CD-RW SCSI drives. The drives may not "run the same way" and so may need software specific to one brand or model, or not support one brand and model. Again - this is OLD STUFF, it's technical, and if you (the Mac owner) can't find someone to sort this for you (I don't "coach" at that level) - then YOU will have to understand this. That's why I'm providing "technical" details. So, what do I have, and what can I offer? (Or anyone else...) I have some old CD-RW external SCSI drives. But..1) I don't have the specific software for them by brand and model drive, so I may not be able to test them for "write", only for "read". 2) I have very little CD-writing software for System 7 or 8. 3) I don't have rights to resell some brand's software and 4) I'd can't guarantee your results, on your Mac, with your software. Now, Suppose I (or anyone else) test a CD-writing drive, on some Mac I have, under some Mac OS, with some software. Suppose it all works - for me. Then I sell it to you. and then it either crashes your system, or simply doesnt' work. If you (or anyone else, this is not personal to you) paid me say $150 for time and drive and shipping - and it didn't work or worse, then what would you (or any customer) do? Now we have a conflict over time, money, shipping, and "warranties". I offer very limited warranties on hardware; and NO warranties whatsoever on software. But I don't care for a customer and I, to be in that situation. Therefore: I simply don't offer that service, period. And I've explained to you, along the way, what it would take for your Mac to perform writing of CD-ROM's. So, you can decide if you want to proceed with messing with your old 8100 Mac, old CD-RW drives, old software, etc. But I don't provide how-to-do-that service, or ready-to-use drives and software to do that. and if I did, and it didn't work or causes problems, there's no "refunds". Sorry, but I've explained why and how. ------------------------------- So....here's my suggestion. You already have a ZIP drive on your Mac, which works fine, correct? Why don't you get a ZIP drive for some "modern" computer you have? A modern computer, that writes CD's (and probably DVD's, and probably supports USB "flash drives". I assume you are already using a modern computer too. If not, *stop here*, the rest of this email wont' be immediately helpful. ----------------------- I assume on your modern computer, you are writing CD's, if not you can learn that. Or write to a "USB stick". You will have to confirm (at some point) with your service bureau, that the files you "transfer" from ZIP to CD or USB "stick" on YOUR computer, are acceptable to that bureau. I sell USB ZIP drives, and SCSI ZIP drives, even older ZIP drives. the USB external ZIP drives are $49 each plus shipping and packing. Again -for your MODERN computer, to read the ZIP disks from your Mac. http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/m_drives.html#zip They are tested on a modern Windows PC running Windows XP. I don't test on Macs running OS X. I have limited software available as "drivers" for Windows and some Mac OS's. Software would be on diskettes and I'd only charge for effort and media and shipping - with absolutely no warranties or guarantees on any software i provide, period. There is a difference between MAC ZIP disks, and IBM-PC (Windows) ZIP disk, "file systems". My guess is your service bureau ignores the differences and simply "grabs" the files needed. YOu may have to talk to them about that, and YOU will have to learn how to read and write ZIP disks on your own modern computer. It may be to your advantage, to back up your own 8100 system files, on modern media. When - not if - your ZIP drive fails, other than getting another old ZIP drive from me, you'll find fewer other folks and services that can accept ZIP disks. You might lose your prior work. ------------------------- What you want to do is up to you. If you have a modern computer, and want a USB ZIP drive, you may as well tell me the brand and model of computer and what operating system it has. I can't warrant your results with a USB ZIP drive but I may be able to inform you and I may be able to provide some software (with zero guarantees). That's all the "coaching" I provide for free. I simply can't afford to provide free tech support to people who may or may not buy items from me. I'm sorry if that's annoying, but I provide "free" information on my Web site, and I provide old hardware to owners of old Macs, at modest prices, and with tested and working devices. I do what I can, but it requires sales (money) to do that. Good luck with your situation, I hope I"ve provided helpful information. [I asked for additional information, if they tell me they want to buy something from me.] Herb Johnson retrotechnology.com (c) 2014 Herbert Johnson, all rights reserved