Post by Russ DumkeDoes anyone know if Iomega is still replacing drives that develop the
COD? I have a 100 MB Zip (about 7 yrs. old) that just got it in the last
year.
I called them about my internal scsi zip100 a couple of years ago. Their
response was that they're no longer replacing COD drives. However, you may
be able to fix yours. I fixed mine and it lasted for about another year or
so. It seems that the critical thing is to get a small drop of lubricant
onto the center guide rail for the read/write heads. This can be found be
removing the cover and closely examining the back of the rear of the drive.
You should be able to see two guide rails, one on the side and one that runs
down the center of the plastic block that houses the read/write head
assembly. On my drive, and others that I've worked on, there's a white
colored bushing on the assembly that guides the heads down the guide rail.
Use a tooth pick or other small device such as a small screw driver to apply
a small drop of lubricant such as the teflon containing Triflo to the back
end of the guide rail. Now tilt the drive forward such that the lubricant
will travel down the guide rail and contact the white bushing. You really
don't need much lubricant at all. Note that releasing the head assembly
before applying the Triflo will likely yield better results since you'll be
able to apply the lubricant to the part of the rail which is normally in
contact with the bushing.
For a review of this repair, you may wish to review one of my prior posts.
Post by Russ DumkeNeed help please, group! Got a Mac G4 tower with a built-in Zip 100.
The Zip disc goes in, the green light flashes, then......nothing! No
icon on screen, nothing! Put in the Iomega CD, it says "No disc".
This means of course that I can't eject it. The Zip has behaved for
five or more years and it's been a good 'un, how do I fix it, please?
It sounds like your drive's symptoms are very similar to ones I've come
across that can be fixed by lubing the guide rails for the head mechanism.
Please refer to my earlier two posts on this subject...
I'm not familiar with the switch issue. That's news to me too.
However, I did fix my click of death SCSI internal Zip100 drive.
Please see my prior post from about 3 months ago,
http://tinyurl.com/39o65. The drive has been working fine ever since!
Every once and a while I'll write a full disk of data to it, 95 MB,
just help to keep it going. I should note that I was able to lube the
center rail from the top side of the drive after I took the cover off
and not from the bottom side as is discussed in the link in my prior
post.
The link refers to one of my earlier posts from March '04 which I've
included below.
Post by Russ DumkeHello group...
I have to admit that I've given up on most all my old Zip drives. All of
them except my external SCSI unit have died of click death and a few
have even been replaced by Iomega. Now I have only a Zip 250 and a Zip
100 SCSI insider in a Power Macintosh 6500.
The drive in the 6500 is experiencing problems with click death, so I'm
wondering if Iomega is still replacing such drives.
You may want to take a look at this post, http://tinyurl.com/2slrx, which
discusses a potential fix for click of death drives. Note that your drive
may be constructed differently from what's described in the post but the
principles are still the same. I also have a scsi insider and was able to
get it back up and going for the time being. I should point out that
there are two rails upon which the drive's heads slide back and forth on.
My belief is that the one in the center of the head assembly is the
critical rail to lubricate as the head assembly has a small white bushing
which fits closely around the rail. You will need to release the head so
that it slides forward in order to get any lube on the appropriate part of
the rail, i.e., where it will come into contact with the white bushing).
You may want to read this page before you get into your drive
http://www.grc.com/tip/codanatomy2.htm.
Steve Gibson's site at GRC will be helpful in disassembling and manipulating
the drives internal components. Note that as long as the read/write heads
are in good condition the lubrication repair should work long enough for you
to get your data off any disks you may have. USB2 flash drives (as well as
CDRWs) have made zip drives all but obsolete. I used zip drives for many
years but will no longer be using any products from Iomega.
Eric