Help me recover Zip Disk with Mysterious trouble...

[Adolfo Melilli]

Hello, I have a Zip 250 disk that one day started not being recognized by
the drive... let me explain:

Most times, as i insert the disk in, it is simply "spat out" after one
second....

I've noticed that if I push the disk in placing my fingers on the right
side, it is accepted and not spat out, in other woird, if I press the back
of the disk near the right angle instead of ther center, i'm able to let the
drive accept it without ejecting it... in this case the green light flashes
a little, the drive head seems to move and read the disk, but windows keeps
signalling as "drive not ready" (please insert a disk in unit Z)....

What's happening? why is the disk accepted if pressing right side? is
there a problem of "reading" the mirror tab at the angle? and in any case,
what do you suggest me in order to avoid this "drive not ready" situation?

Please help me, I have very important data stored there, in such a situation
I can neither run a recover utility, how can I overcome this?

thanks in advance

[Eric]

Post by Adolfo Melilli
Hello, I have a Zip 250 disk that one day started not being recognized by
Most times, as i insert the disk in, it is simply "spat out" after one
second....
I've noticed that if I push the disk in placing my fingers on the right
side, it is accepted and not spat out, in other woird, if I press the back
of the disk near the right angle instead of ther center, i'm able to let the
drive accept it without ejecting it... in this case the green light flashes
a little, the drive head seems to move and read the disk, but windows keeps
signalling as "drive not ready" (please insert a disk in unit Z)....
What's happening? why is the disk accepted if pressing right side? is
there a problem of "reading" the mirror tab at the angle? and in any case,
what do you suggest me in order to avoid this "drive not ready" situation?
Please help me, I have very important data stored there, in such a situation
I can neither run a recover utility, how can I overcome this?
thanks in advance

there are two possiblities: One, the disk is damaged after extended
use, and the drive no longer recognizes it. Solution: You are SOL, the
disk is shot.
Two: The drives disk sensor is going out (notorious in this newsgroup),
the only solutions are, if still under waranty send it back to Iomega,
otherwise, get a new drive.

From the sounds of your problem, I would look more towards number two.

HTH

Eric

[geothermal]

Post by Adolfo Melilli
Hello, I have a Zip 250 disk that one day started not being recognized by
Most times, as i insert the disk in, it is simply "spat out" after one
second....
I've noticed that if I push the disk in placing my fingers on the right
side, it is accepted and not spat out, in other woird, if I press the back
of the disk near the right angle instead of ther center, i'm able to let the
drive accept it without ejecting it... in this case the green light flashes
a little, the drive head seems to move and read the disk, but windows keeps
signalling as "drive not ready" (please insert a disk in unit Z)....
What's happening? why is the disk accepted if pressing right side? is
there a problem of "reading" the mirror tab at the angle? and in any case,
what do you suggest me in order to avoid this "drive not ready" situation?
Please help me, I have very important data stored there, in such a situation
I can neither run a recover utility, how can I overcome this?
thanks in advance

Hi Adolfo,

Have you tried this zip disk on a friend's machine with a good zip
drive ? That will let you know if it is the disk or drive you need
to fix or replace.

I use isopropyl alcohol for cleaning the rails, or silicone lubricate.
Both are applied using a Q-Tip. Do not use a spray.

You can also take the drive over to a friend's house and see if it
works ok there. Buy a new ZIP disk to test it there.

Sometimes computer repair places can check disks like this for free.
They might even copy this zip disk onto a new one for free if you
buy a new zip disk from them.

HTH,

geothermal