What kills Zips?

[Henry]

Folks:

Two SCSI Zip 100's hooked to two different NT machines, powered all the
time. Business got bad, the machines didn't get used for maybe a year at
the time, left powered down.

Eventually, at different times, the Zips went out to lunch, wouldn't work,
weren't visible.

No lightning bolts, no spiders nesting inside. The PCs fine.

The first I gave up on and tossed.

The second failed a couple of months after the first. Wait a minute... this
can't be right, gotta check a bit more. All attempts failed, until...

Long story short: I attached the drive to a Mac G3 and it worked perfectly
(same cable, same power supply) the first time. Continues to work on the
original PC.

I had a similar issue with a USB Zip 100 hooked to an iMac, except I can't
seem to bring this one back to life.

What kills a Zip?

Old age? Certainly not wear-and-tear...these drive were never used very
much, just for the occasional backup and sneaker-net transfer. Leaving
the drive powered while the host computer was not? Gremlins?

Thanks,

Henry

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[D***@ix.netcom.com]

Henry <***@zzzspacebbs.com> wrote:

[snip]

Post by Henry
What kills a Zip?
Old age? Certainly not wear-and-tear...these drive were never used very
much, just for the occasional backup and sneaker-net transfer. Leaving
the drive powered while the host computer was not? Gremlins?

Long-term lack of use could be a problem. The drive's heads move on
lubricated rails. If the drive is not used for a very long time, I
suppose it's possible that the lubricant could dry out in spots which
would prevent the heads from moving properly. Someone once posted
instructions for re-lubricating the rails (they aren't readily
accessible); you might be able to find them by searching at
www.google.com.

[Henry]

Post by D***@ix.netcom.com
[snip]

Post by Henry
What kills a Zip?
Old age? Certainly not wear-and-tear...these drive were never used very
much, just for the occasional backup and sneaker-net transfer. Leaving
the drive powered while the host computer was not? Gremlins?

Long-term lack of use could be a problem. The drive's heads move on
lubricated rails. If the drive is not used for a very long time, I
suppose it's possible that the lubricant could dry out in spots which
would prevent the heads from moving properly. Someone once posted
instructions for re-lubricating the rails (they aren't readily
accessible); you might be able to find them by searching at
www.google.com.

I would expect that such a drive would go through a stage of partial
operation: scraping noises, or something. The dead drives I've got don't
seem to try to do anything and they operated perfectly the last time I
tried.

I guess I can imagine that there's a sudden, hard lock-up on the rails.
This theory is consistent with one aspect of my experience: An apparently
dead drive from the PC world worked on a Mac. If the Mac drivers do a
warm-up jerk, the PC drivers don't, that might be the difference.

I didn't find anything... can you think of a keyword that might help
searching?

Did mention that the flickering light on the USB drive when it was powered
and the host computer wasn't -- is now gone? That implies to me that
something electrical died, though it is obviously hard to tell.

Thanks,

Henry

***@zzzspacebbs.com remove 'zzz'

[D***@ix.netcom.com]

Henry <***@zzzspacebbs.com> wrote:

[snip]

Post by Henry
I didn't find anything... can you think of a keyword that might help
searching?

Enter "zip lubricate heads" into the google search box, and the first
result should be "The Click Death LUBRICATION thread . . .". Make
sure you're searching Groups and not the Web.

Post by Henry
Did mention that the flickering light on the USB drive when it was powered
and the host computer wasn't -- is now gone? That implies to me that
something electrical died, though it is obviously hard to tell.

I don't think the light should have been flickering in the first
place. It's been a long time since I've used a USB Zip, and there is
more than one design for them; so I'm not sure whether the light
should remain on or off when the drive is powered on but not in use.

[Henry]

Post by D***@ix.netcom.com
[snip]

Post by Henry
I didn't find anything... can you think of a keyword that might help
searching?

Enter "zip lubricate heads" into the google search box, and the first
result should be "The Click Death LUBRICATION thread . . .". Make
sure you're searching Groups and not the Web.

Aha! Got it. Thanks for the incantation.

I'll follow up as soon as I get some time.

Post by D***@ix.netcom.com

Post by Henry
Did mention that the flickering light on the USB drive when it was powered
and the host computer wasn't -- is now gone? That implies to me that
something electrical died, though it is obviously hard to tell.

I don't think the light should have been flickering in the first
place. It's been a long time since I've used a USB Zip, and there is
more than one design for them; so I'm not sure whether the light
should remain on or off when the drive is powered on but not in use.

Well, it did that for at least a year, maybe more, while it worked perfectly
well. Strange.

Thanks,

Henry

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