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How to read old Zip drives on a recent (2017) Mac with OS 10.14 or later?

How to read old Zip drives on a current Mac with OS 10.14 or later? I see a number of questions on these forums but they are from many years ago and with ancient Macs. Any thoughts? I have a SCSI to USB converter cable. The drive works, lights up, ejects Zip drives, etc. It just doesn't register on my Mac desktop. (Yes, Finder preferences has ALL items checked, hard disks, external disk, etc. etc.). Thanks!

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on May 3, 2020 6:19 PM

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May 3, 2020 9:33 PM in response to GMak

Gmak Said:

"So, each one failed for a different reason. I am back to my MacBook G3... but it has a "mini-SCSI port on the back, and now I have to get some kind of adapter. It runs on OS9, so it should work, but I won't know until I get some kind of adapter... what with these Corona Virus Times we live in now, it may take a while to find one. So, over and out for now... I'll bookmark this and let you know what happens when it happens. Thanks for being very responsive."

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You are Welcome.

Going SCSI to USB-C:

Maybe a SCSI-to-USB adapter would do the trick? Then get a USB-C to USB Adapter from Apple.

Start Here: Amazon.com: scsi to usb

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May 3, 2020 6:42 PM in response to GMak

Does it appear in Disk Utility?

How to get an Iomega Zip Drive to operate with OS 10x alleges the Zip drive simply works with Mojave, unfortunately, that thread died a few months ago with no report of success or failure.

You may recall those drives (the drives, not the disks) suffered from a notorious failure known as the "click of death" which rendered them irreparable. That's what happened to mine before I tossed them in the junk heap. So, if that MacRumors post is to be believed perhaps the drive just isn't working.

Examine System Information to determine if the drive is even recognized. The System Information app is in your Mac's Utilities folder. I'm not sure where it would appear in it, definitely USB, and perhaps under Storage also.

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May 3, 2020 6:52 PM in response to John Galt

First, gosh, thanks for getting back so quickly. To answer your questions, Disk Utilities returned no such drive, and the System info on About this Mac returned "no SCSI drive connected." Not sure if "Terminator 'on'/'off/ makes any difference but tried it on then off. The SCSI Drive # is 1 (keeping it low)... It sounds OK. I put the Zip drive in, makes the usual noises getting in place, I can hear it spinning. Tried a couple of discs... even toggled the "Finder... Preferences...show all filename extensions" (A trick when screenshots won't appear on your desktop..). Nothing. It is possible that my converter cable is bad. Just got it and it was a little weird but it lights up, so not sure....

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May 3, 2020 6:58 PM in response to GMak

GMak Said:

"How to read old Zip drives on a recent (2017) Mac with OS 10.14 or later?"

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Windows XP Virtual Machine:

Somehow, I'm only able to read my 250MB and 750GM Iomega zip drive on my Mac is through use of a Windows XP Virtual Machine. I cannot read it directly off of the macOS. So, if there ends up being not solution for Mojave, consider using a Virtual Machine(VM). All would be accessed and would operate as desired on the VM. Virtual Machine applications include VMWare Fusion and Parallels. Learn more here: What Is a Virtual Machine? - VMWare Support.

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May 3, 2020 7:15 PM in response to TheLittles

Thanks. That's an incredibly complex solution.- but at least it's a solution. It's interesting that for the millions of these things sold - and quite the ground-breaking technology and then standard in it's day, it's disappeared, without a trace, and all those millions and millions of disks sit someplace (like in my closet) unusable. Technology is very sad sometimes.

Hey, you gave me another solution though! Your suggestion of an alternate OS reminded me I have an old but still running OS9 blacklaptop G3 powerbook, as well as several older PowerBooks all should still be working just old. I'm going to see what I can do.... It may take a while and it's dinner time now, but I'll get back to you and let you know how it went...

Thanks for your suggestions... and subliminal push!

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May 3, 2020 7:58 PM in response to GMak

GMak Said:

"Thanks for your suggestions... and subliminal push!"

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You are welcome!

My Other Uses of my VMs:

I also use it to run older programs and games that I cannot use on my macOS - ones from the '90s. Virtual Machines are pretty nifty, when it comes to compatibility. It is also the only way I've ever been able to burn a Blu-Ray disk on my Mac.

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May 3, 2020 8:56 PM in response to TheLittles

So, each one failed for a different reason. I am back to my MacBook G3... but it has a "mini-SCSI port on the back, and now I have to get some kind of adapter. It runs on OS9, so it should work, but I won't know until I get some kind of adapter... what with these Corona Virus Times we live in now, it may take a while to find one. So, over and out for now... I'll bookmark this and let you know what happens when it happens. Thanks for being very responsive.

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May 4, 2020 6:46 AM in response to GMak

I have to speculate because I don't have those drives any more, but if that report is correct then I suspect a driver was installed at some time in the past—one that may not longer be possible to install. Mojave "whitelisted" hundreds or thousands of preexisting drivers (kernel extensions) keeping them operational, so if merely connecting the Zip drive worked that might be an explanation.

So where does that leave you. TheLittles suggested a VM and that's a good idea. You may still need to purchase Windows XP or something else for which drivers can still be installed. I know you characterized that solution as incredibly complex but that's only because it's intimidating to consider all at once. If I could do it anyone can.

Even better might be to install Linux on your Mac and run it natively. It's free.

There is a way to run Windows XP programs using Wine in either Linux or macOS: https://www.winehq.org. Windows not required. If you want to pursue any of those solutions let me know.

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May 15, 2020 11:30 AM in response to TheLittles

Here is "a" solution: As we speak, I am copying my old Zip drive contents to a USB drive. (Yay!) My PowerbookG3 750 running OS9.1 works. I have a Type II PC Card USB adapter in the slot. I put in a USB "thumb" drive (2GB seems to work fine, I think there is some upper limit of GB on the old systems.) I had to buy a SCSI DB25 to Apple PowerBook HDI30 cable. That was the key. I booted it up, everything mounted, and I am in the process of transferring all my old Zip drives to the USB drive, whereafter I will transfer it to my back up drives.

I had tried using a SCSI-to-USB cable and that did not work at all, even though the USB adapter functioned (as evidence by the ability to mount a USB thumb drive.) So it wasn't the Type II card USB adapter. It cannot be determined at this time (without running a few trouble-shooting tests which I won't) whether it was a bad cable or that the technology pairing simply did not work. In any event, the direct connection to the HDI30 port on the G3 worked. Whew!

I'll now finish the 40+ Zip drives of mostly images from the early days of digital photography in the mid-late 90s, and be done!

Thanks for all you suggestions!

PS: Moral of the story is "if it's not broken, never throw any cable, drive or old computer out" - you just never know when they might come in handy!

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May 15, 2020 11:55 AM in response to GMak

GMak Said:

"Here is 'a' solution: As we speak, I am copying my old Zip drive contents to a USB drive. (Yay!) My PowerbookG3 750 running OS9.1 works. I have a Type II PC Card USB adapter in the slot. I put in a USB 'thumb' drive (2GB seems to work fine[...] Thanks for all you suggestions! [...]PS: Moral of the story is "if it's not broken, never throw any cable, drive or old computer out" - you just never know when they might come in handy!"

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You are welcome! Great troubleshooting! Great moral!

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May 3, 2020 9:15 PM in response to babowa

Thank you Babowa! Please reply to my question on my post: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251333812

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May 3, 2020 8:34 PM in response to TheLittles

Burning or playing a blu-ray disk will work easily if you have Roxio Toast.

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How to read old Zip drives on a recent (2017) Mac with OS 10.14 or later?

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