Problems Solved
PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT
How do I access my old Zip drive?
Q I have an old Iomega Zip drive and disks that I can no longer access. I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of some drivers to download? I have tried to download drivers from various sites but am told they need updating. I have access to either Windows 10 or 8.
John Pearce
A How much pain do you want to endure? We ask because we suspect you have one of the original Zip drives. Internal models were connected via an IDE/PATA interface, while external models hooked up using a cable to the computer’s parallel (printer) port.
Modern PCs have neither of these things, though they can be added to desktop models. An IDE/PATA-to-USB adapter costs around £23 from Amazon (www.snipca.com/36230), while a PCIe expansion card to add a parallel port costs about the same (www.snipca.com/36230), pictured right).
We should also say that several years ago we investigated whether the use of a parallel-to-USB adapter cable might do the job. However, in discussions with a reader, we subsequently discovered that these are wired only for ancient printers, and will not allow a Zip drive to communicate properly with a PC. So scrub that option, whether or not you have a laptop or desktop PC.
Investinginany of these physical interfaces would merely be the start of the process. Iomega, the company, is long-dead, so no drivers remain officially available for these ancient variants of the Zip drive.
Our research suggests it’s possible to installthese outdated driverson a Windows XP virtual PC, hosted by the likes of Virtual Box(www.virtualbox.org)–and then use this to communicate with the Zip drive via an installed physical interface. However, you’d need tohaveor otherwise obtain acopy ofXP, so that is also likely to bea non-starter for you.
In the unlikely event that you do get that far with this route, then first install the drivers you’ve downloaded into your virtual Windows XP
