250-Zip-Drive can't read 100-Disks

[Manfred Kroell]

I bought a used 250-Zip-Drive and attached it to a USB-Port. It's
recognized by XP-Pro. Why can't it read 100-Disks? Do I need a
special driver?
Thanks in advance, Manfred

[Ugly]

On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 04:51:40 +0200, Manfred Kroell babbled on about 250-Zip-Drive can't

Post by Manfred Kroell
I bought a used 250-Zip-Drive and attached it to a USB-Port. It's
recognized by XP-Pro. Why can't it read 100-Disks?

Probably the same reason my Zip100 can't read 250 disks.

[Eric]

Post by Ugly
On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 04:51:40 +0200, Manfred Kroell babbled on about 250-Zip-Drive can't

Post by Manfred Kroell
I bought a used 250-Zip-Drive and attached it to a USB-Port. It's
recognized by XP-Pro. Why can't it read 100-Disks?

Probably the same reason my Zip100 can't read 250 disks.

The reason a Zip100 can't read a Zip250 is because they are not forward
compatable, a 250 should be able to read a 100, but not the other way
around, I think it has something to do with the way the internal
software writes to the disk.

A 250 can read and write to a 100, however, I'm not sure if once a 250
has written to a 100 if a 100 can read what the 250 has written.

Is the disk protected? If it is it wont see it, particularly if you are
accessing it from a shortcut.

Goto your desktop, click on "My Computer" then click on the USB drive,
you should be able to access it from there or at least get a password
prompt.

HTH

Eric

[Eric]

Post by Eric

Post by Ugly
On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 04:51:40 +0200, Manfred Kroell babbled on about

Post by Manfred Kroell
I bought a used 250-Zip-Drive and attached it to a USB-Port. It's
recognized by XP-Pro. Why can't it read 100-Disks?

Probably the same reason my Zip100 can't read 250 disks.

The reason a Zip100 can't read a Zip250 is because they are not forward
compatable, a 250 should be able to read a 100, but not the other way
around, I think it has something to do with the way the internal
software writes to the disk.
A 250 can read and write to a 100, however, I'm not sure if once a 250
has written to a 100 if a 100 can read what the 250 has written.

To the best of my understanding, the tracks have a smaller diameter on the
zip250 and thus they also have smaller read/write heads. The zip100 drive
is not compatible with the zip250 disks due the older drive having larger
read/write heads. A zip250 should be able to write to a zip100 however it
will take longer to write the data as it needs to fill in the wider track
with the data. The zip100 disk should be readable in a zip100 drive after
being written to by a zip250 drive.

Eric