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The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from
the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2005. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2ZIPTF.txt rev086 May 2005
Zip Drives & Tape
001- What is a "Zip drive"?
002- What is a "Zip disk"?
003- What do I need in order to use a Zip drive?
004- What kind of SCSI interface card do I need?
005- How do I install a Zip drive?
006- How do I get started using the Zip drive?
007- How does Zip Drive speed compare with a hard disk's speed?
008- Can I use Zip disks to transfer files to/from other computers?
009- Will forgetting to set the termination switch cause damage?
010- How does Zip Drive perform with an Apple HS SCSI card?
011- Is a CMS SCSI card adequate for connecting a Zip drive?
012- Which SCSI interface works best with a Zip Drive?
013- Will I be able to format and partition a Zip disk?
014- Should I let the Finder handle formatting of new Zip disks?
015- Can I format a Zip disk for HFS?
016- The disk in my Zip Drive is not recognized. How come?
017- I added SCSI; now, my 3.5" drives often fail to work. Why?
018- Why do I get this "Ramfast/SCSI is searching SCSI bus" msg?
019- What's a good utility for doing tape backups on the GS?
020- What's needed to add a SCSI Tape backup unit?
021- What about tape backup on a IIe?
022- Does Apple's Hi-Speed SCSI card allow swapping Zip disks?
023- What can I do after the Zip on my Apple SCSI "sleeps"?
024- What is the "Click of Death" reported by some Zip drive users?
025- What is a "Qic" tape? A friend needs to read a Qic-80 tape.
026- How do I restart my HS SCSI + Zip when the Zip deactivates?
Zip Q&A 001-008 info mainly from the 1996 II Alive review by Eric Dietrich
001- What is a "Zip drive"?
The typical Zip drive is a 100MB removable media system. Cobalt blue in color, the popular external drive is compact and light-- about the same size as the newer external modems. The 100s "SCSI Zip" connects to the any computer with a SCSI port including the Apple IIgs or IIe equipped with a SCSI interface card.
The Zip drive is made by Iomega. Price for the 100MB external model is around $130. This includes the drive, cable, information sheets, one disk with "Zip Tools", and a 3.5" installation diskette. (The material on the zip disk is PC/Mac compatible and the diskette is for MS-DOS. This stuff will come in handy should you wish to be able to use your Zip drive on a PC with a SCSI port or on a Mac. None of the software is required for using the Zip Drive on an Apple II.)
----------------------------
From: David Wilson
Below is updated information on available Zip Drive models:
100MB Zip Drive models now include ...
External- parallel, SCSI, "Plus" (SCSI/parallel), usb
Internal- SCSI, IDE, and three ATAPI drives
250MB Zip Drive models include ...
External- parallel, SCSI, usb
Internal- ATAPI
----------------------------
002- What is a "Zip disk"?
A Zip drive disk is a cartridge just a bit larger and thicker than the familiar 3.5" floppy diskette with a smaller shutter and no physical write- protect mechanism. It is rated as among the more rugged moderately-high- density removable disks.
100MB disks sell for around $10. 250MB disks sell for around $20.
----------------------------
003- What do I need to use a Zip drive?
You need an Apple IIgs or Enhanced IIe and a SCSI interface card.
----------------------------
004- What kind of SCSI interface card do I need?
There are three 'popular' options: The Apple Revision C, The Apple Hi- Speed, and the RamFAST. The Revision C is older and a bit slower because it does not utilize direct memory access (DMA), a feature that the Hi-Speed and RamFAST have. The Apple cards are no longer made or supported; but, you may be able to buy one at a swap meet.
The Sequential Systems RamFAST has DMA plus an on-board cache of either 256kB or 1MB, making it the fastest interface available. RamFAST has a full set of utilities in ROM, so, it's easy to set up, too.
----------------------------
From: Willie Yeo
Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card users need to remember that these cards normally do not supply termination power. (RamFAST does; but, not the Apple Hi- Speed SCSI card.) To work properly with the GS, a Zip drive connected to the Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card requires either another device that can supply termination power, or requires a hardware hack on the Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card to provide the termination power.
Note: The Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card termination power modification is detailed in the Hard Drive and SCSI FAQs (file Csa2HDNSCSI.txt).
----------------------------
005- How do I install a Zip drive?
The main Zip installation step is plugging it in. The drive uses DB-25 connectors and, so, most likely, the cable will plug directly into your interface card with no need for an adapter. In case you need an adapter for an older 50-pin plug, these can be obtained from Alltech.
If you already have other SCSI devices, the one currently plugged into the interface can plug into the Zip. Or, the Zip can be plugged into a hard disk, CD-ROM, etc. at any point in the chain of SCSI devices.
Set SCSI ID Number- Every hard disk, CD-ROM drive, etc. on your SCSI chain needs its own ID number (0-7). While most devices are flexible and will allow you to choose any available ID, Zip gives you a choice of two: 5 or 6. If you are using an Apple Hi-Speed card and you already have a hard disk, you'll have to set the Zip to 5 in order to continue to boot off of your hard disk (which needs to be 6). The RamFAST is somewhat more flexible in that it doesn't take ID 7 for itself and will allow you to boot from any SCSI device.
Set Termination- Another consideration is termination. If all you have connected to your SCSI card is the Zip Drive, then you should set the switch on the back to turn ON the termination. If you have other devices that come after the Zip, then you should set it to OFF. (Actually, the Zip presents a light termination load and can be left with termination ON whether or not it is the last device.) The last device in the chain (the one farthest from the interface) should always have termination set ON.
Hardware-wise, that's it. In all likelihood, your setup will work fine. If not, you can get help from experts at Alltech, post a question on comp.sys.apple2, or, even, read the documentation that came with your SCSI card (when all else fails ...).
----------------------------
006- How do I get started using the Zip drive?
Once your drive is connected, its time to start your machine and prepare a Zip disk for use. The Advanced Disk Utility (on a IIgs) or the utility that came with your SCSI card can do formatting and set up partitions (i.e. create named "Volumes"). Usually, with new for-PC Disks, just partitioning is required for use under ProDOS. Each 100MB disk can hold three max-size (32MB) ProDOS partitions.
If your interface is a RamFAST rev. D 3.01f or later model, you will be able to treat Zip disks much like large floppies. They will mount and unmount properly in the GS Finder, etc..
Most other interface cards will want to treat your Zip Drive and disk like a hard disk. This is because the cards were designed before removable high-density R/W media became popular. You may be able to swap in a disk after booting; but, the new disk is likely to be treated as though it is the disk which was present during power-up. This could lead to messed-up partitions, lost files, and other problems. With such interface cards, the safe way to swap Zip disks is to turn OFF the computer.
----------------------------
007-How does Zip Drive speed compare with a hard disk speed?
Iomega claims 29ms average access time, which is slower than modern hard disks but, still, very speedy.
----------------------------
008- Can I use Zip disks to transfer files to/from other computers?
Mac--> IIgs
Yes. However, Macs put a driver on the disk as well as a partition map. Both look like partitions to the IIgs. Since the IIgs can't read them, it will ask you to format or eject. Here's a trick you can try: When you insert a Mac- formatted Zip, just click "eject" until the disk mounts. The IIgs will then ignore the extra Mac stuff, and mount just the legitimate volume(s). (E. D.)
----------------------------
From: Supertimer
Mac <--> IIgs
Shared HFS GS/Mac disks should be formatted on the IIGS because the IIGS tends to provide a format that is acceptable to both platforms while the Mac tends to ignore the needs of the IIGS.
Besides the standard Apple Disk Utility (ADU), you will need GenEx. GenEx extracts the generic Mac SCSI driver from ADU's resource fork and puts it into the IIGS' drivers folder. Thus, when ADU looks in that folder, it finds and installs the driver and does not give the "no mac driver found" error. You can download GenEx (GenEx.shk) and info (GenEx.shk.txt) from Ground at ...
ftp://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/apple2/upl98/Feb98/ .
Once you get GenEx, use the following procedure to prepare Zip disks:
o- Go to the Apple Advanced Disk Utility (ADU) on the IIgs and select Partition Drive. Delete all the partitions except one and resize that one partition to fill up the entire drive. Click on the button to repartition the drive. At this point, ADU will ask you if you want to low level format and warn you that it is going to take a long time. Click on Yes.
o- ADU will wipe the drive. By doing it this way, you are giving ADU a clean slate to install the GenericMacSCSI driver onto the drive.
o- Finally, initialize the HFS volume.
Surprise, the new Zip disk works on both the IIGS and Mac without annoying errors!
----------------------------
From: John Holmes and Tarage
PC--> IIgs (also, maybe, IIgs--> PC and PC <--> Mac)
DataViz sells a product called MacOpener 2000 for machines running Windows that actually allows you to use all HFS formats, except for 400K/800K floppies, on your PC while running Windows. This goes not only for reading the media but also writing and formatting as well.
I put a zip disk in my Parallel Port Zip drive on my PC and formatted it HFS and copied some of the //gs software I had downloaded. It worked on my IIgs (equipped with a SCSI zip 250 drive) like a charm!
----------------------------
From: Supertimer and Rubywand
PC<-->IIgs
You can use MUG! to R/W MS-DOS formatted Zip disks. Mug! (mug101.bxy) along with an info file is on Ground at ...
ftp://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/apple2/apple16/System/Ndas/ .
MUG! is an NDA (New Desk Accessory) which must be started from the 'Apple menu' (click on the Apple symbol) available at the top of a typical GS 'desktop'-type display.
One thing to be aware of is that MUG! should be used from an application other than Finder (the usual main GS "desktop display"). The Finder and many other applications will do a drive check, find the MS-DOS Zip disk, and respond with something like: "Installed FSTs do not recognize disk, do you wish to format it or eject it?".
MUG! seems to work fine when selected from Platinum Paint or PMPUnZip. (If you start from Platinum Paint, be sure to go to 640 mode first in order to be able to see the entire MUG! display.) PMPUnZip is, probably, your best bet because it is a relatively small program. Once, say, PMPUnZip is started, you can insert your PC Zip MS-DOS Zip disk and start MUG!. Setting the Copy option to "to GS/OS", I copied several .shk, .wav, and .jpg files from the Zip Disk to /RAM5 RAM disk with no problem.
____________________________
From: Rubywand
009- Sometimes I forget to set the termination switch correctly
after using my Zip drive on another machine. Will this damage
anything?
If you normally connect your Zip drive somewhere in the middle of your Apple II SCSI chain and forget to turn OFF termination, it probably does no harm. The Zip is said to have rather "weak" termination-- i.e. its termination resistors present a relatively light load. This may explain why GS users report no data loss problems on Zip or other devices when Zip is located in the middle of a SCSI chain with termination set to ON.
If your Zip drive is normally connected at the end of your Apple II SCSI chain and you forget to set it to ON, there is a decent chance of Zip drive Read and Write errors.
____________________________
From: The Mangler
010- How does Zip Drive perform with an Apple HS SCSI card?
I had many problems when I first started with the Iomega Zip on my GS and it isn't the most reliable thing - But it works.
1.) Make sure that the Zipdrive is hooked directly to your HS Apple SCSI card.
2.) Chain your Zipdrive to the external HD which you will be using.
3.) Attach a terminator adapter to the back of the remaining port on your external HD - The Zipdrive has a weak termination and requires another terminator source.
As for getting your GS to recognize the Zipdrive in all applications:
1.) Turn on your Zipdrive
2.) Turn on your external HD
3.) Turn on the GS
4.) Put the Zipdisk in the drive before GSOS is booted so that it may be scanned and recognized.
Last, if you are working on the GS for a long time and suddenly the Zipdrive Icons don't pop up when you load Finder, simply eject the zipdisk and push it back into the drive.
____________________________
From: Sloopy Malibu
011- Is a CMS SCSI interface card adequate for connecting a Zip drive?
I have had a Zip Drive hooked to a CMS SCSI card (1990 ROM) for 2-3 years in my IIgs without a hitch. Basically you just go into the setup for the CMS card. It will partition the drive into 32 meg sections which you can access two at a time-- It makes three on a Zip disk. Then once GS/OS is booted it tells you that the disk is unreadable and asks if you want it formatted and you hit ok for each virtual drive and there you have it. (I never tried formatting it with HFS since I didn't need a partition larger than 32megs.)
The one thing to remember is DON'T EJECT THE DISK while booted. Go to shutdown first and, when it tells you to shut it off, then change disks.
----------------------------
From: David Empson
I would strongly discourage using the CMS card. It is designed to work with CMS hard drives. I don't know how well it can handle removable SCSI devices; and, it might not be able to handle more than 64 MB. So even if you can get the card to work with the ZIP drive, you may not be able to access all of the disk.
Another problem is that the CMS card doesn't support the standard partitioning scheme used by other Apple II SCSI cards. It uses a set of jumpers on the card to configure the partition sizes, and doesn't support the partition map mechanism at all. In other words, it uses "hard partitioning".
See if you can get hold of an Apple or RamFast SCSI card, which follow all the standards as far as partitioning goes.
____________________________
From: Rubywand
012- Which SCSI interface works best with a Zip Drive?
Your best choice is the version 3.01f RamFAST. Along with good speed, Direct Memory Access support, and on-ROM utilities, you also get an interface which permits ejecting a Zip disk and mounting a new Zip disk from the System 6 Finder. (There is no need to restart the system in order to swap disks.)
The RamFAST 3.01f also supports a variety of CD-ROM drives and hard disk drives.
----------------------------
From: Supertimer
The same can be said of the Apple High Speed SCSI. With a partitioned Zip disk (or CD-ROM), you have to lasso or shift-click to highlight all the partitions and drag them to the trash to eject the disk. (As long as one partition remains on the desktop, the disk stays in.) There is no need to turn off the computer to swap disks. The interface is a bit slower than RamFAST. However, it actually supports MORE hard disk drives than the RamFAST.
----------------------------
From: David Empson
The problem with non-support of removable devices only applies to the original Apple SCSI card, not the high-speed one, and even then it only applies underProDOS-8. You just need to be careful not to switch disks without rebooting, because it won't realize that a new disk (potentially with different partitioning) is in the drive.
____________________________
From: Rubywand
013- Will I be able to format and partition a Zip disk using the
standard 6.0.1 tools disk?
Yes.
If you have a RamFAST, you also have the option of using the RamFAST utilities. These are on ROM on the RamFAST board. They should be copied to disk or hard disk and run from there. RAMFAST.SYSTEM will handle ProDOS partitioning and low-level formatting.
Since Zip disks are already formatted, you will, mainly, be concerned with setting up partitions. On a 100MB Zip disk, the best partitioning is three 32MB ProDOS volumes. Setting up partitions takes less than a minute. A low-level reformat of a 100MB Zip disk may take 10 minutes or more.
____________________________
From: Rubywand
014- Should I just let the System Finder handle formatting of
new Zip disks?
If you are at the usual System Desktop display and insert a new, "blank" Zip disk, you will be told that the disk's format is not recognized and asked if you want to have it formatted. Assuming you want ProDOS volumes or multiple HFS volumes, you should answer "NO":
A new Zip disk is already formatted; what you need is to have it partitioned-- good, because partitioning takes about 30 seconds whereas a format takes 9-10 minutes.
ProDOS is limited to 32,768kB ("32MB") per partition. The Finder does not know how to correctly format and partition a 100MB ProDOS disk.
Reminder: If you want a disk to be able to boot ProDOS or any version of GS/OS (as in System 6.0.1), at least the first partition must be formatted for ProDOS.
----------------------------
From: Supertimer
I say "Yes", _if_ you want one big HFS-formatted Zip disk. (Unlike ProDOS, HFS allows volumes larger than 32MB.) Letting the Finder format the Zip disk for HFS gives you a 96MB (partition-table-less) "diskette" that's faster than one that has been partitioned, even if the partition = the whole disk.
The "partitionless" HFS volume generated by formatting PC Zip disks from the Finder behaves just like a floppy and ejects and mounts like one (but with a hard disk icon).
____________________________
From: Rubywand
015- Can I format a Zip disk for HFS; and, can HFS and ProDOS
volumes exist on the same Zip disk?
Yes. System 6 with HFS.FST in the SYSTEM/FSTS folder supports Read, Write, Formatting, and Partitioning of HFS disks. The standard Apple Advanced Disk Utilities (ADU) program lets you set up a Zip disk as a single 100MB HFS volume or divide it into partitions.
Note: A "partition" is a "volume". In most respects, partitions on a Hard Disk or Zip disk are treated like separate disks. Each partition has its own volume name and appears on the System Finder display with its own icon.
You can, if you like, have ProDOS and HFS partitions on the same Zip disk. One easy way to do this is to set up, say, three ProDOS partitions and, then, have ADU "Initialize" a partition as HFS. If you want to be able to boot from the Zip disk, at least the first partition must be ProDOS.
----------------------------
016- Often, when I power-ON my computer, the disk in my Zip Drive
is not recognized. What's the problem?
Almost immediately after power-up, your SCSI interface begins checking for devices. Most likely, the problem is that your SCSI interface checks the Zip Drive before it is ready and decides no disk is present.
The cure is to put your Zip Drive, CD-ROM drive, etc. on a separate power line. These devices should be switched ON 5-10 seconds before powering- ON the computer. If you depend upon reading SCSI setup information from your Zip Drive-- like, if it is the only write-able device on the SCSI chain-- then a Zip disk on which the setup info has been saved should be inserted after the drive is switched ON and before powering-ON the computer.
----------------------------
017- Sometimes the 3.5" drives on my GS do not function correctly.
This started after adding a SCSI interface card. Is there
a fix?
This problem seems to crop up from time to time when a SCSI interface is present, especially when no device is connected and recognized on the SCSI chain. Evidently, something (e.g. a register or softswitch) in the usual GS power-up routine relating to on-line devices gets messed up.
Inserting a 3.5" diskette into Drive 1 before or just after power-up usually forces recognition of 3.5" diskette drives and enables correct functioning.
____________________________
From: LJ Silicon
018- I get this message 'Ramfast/SCSI is searching the SCSI bus for
devices..etc.' Never had this problem before-- only does it
on a cold boot.
When you reinstalled the software, the RAMFast set itself for a long search. This is an option that you can change using the RAMFast utility. What it is doing is giving your scsi devices a chance to spin up. If you want a fast check, go to the options menu on the utilities and reset the Short Timeout option there to "YES".
____________________________
From: Dan Brown, KE6MKS
019- What's a good utility for doing tape backups on the GS?
Here follows an unpaid testimonial: The Tim Grams GS desktop SCSI backup utility called "GSTape" works great! I got it for an old Apple Tape 40SC, did several backup/restores, and then ran across a 2GB DAT drive. Yep, it worked with no problems, too! (-:
----------------------------
From: Devin Reade
As one of those very satisfied customers, I testify that for someone with a SCSI tape drive, GSTape is very much worth the money. It is reliable and simple to operate in both backup and restore mode. It has an appropriate script capability and, although I have not used this feature, it allows timed backups (so that you don't have to be present).
It is _much_ better than the RAMFast built-in tape backup program. I currently use it to backup both SCSI and Vulcan (IDE) hard drives.
____________________________
From: Phil Abel
020- I have a IIgs ROM01 with system 6.0 and I am trying to add a
SCSI Tape backup unit. I have an Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card
and 2 drives connected currently. The tape drive is off an old
unix box. I have the ID set to 3. I loaded the system 6.0 SCSI
tape driver but nothing showed up on the desktop. What's wrong?
I have recently gone thru this dilemma myself... First of all, I believe that the GS driver is partial to the 3M mechanism as found in the Apple SC40 tape unit. I tried a Tecmar drive (whatever mechanism that is) on my GS, and though it recognized the drive on boot as a SCSI device, when I went into archiver to try to back something up it didn't acknowledge the drive's presence, although the SCSITAPE device showed up in GS/OS. I later found a good deal on an SC40 and hooked it up and it works perfectly, though I am still curious about making the Tecmar work, though I doubt it will.
#1. I have read that you should set the SCSI ID on a tape drive to 0 (lowest priority) if this will help any... this seemed to eliminate annoying searching of the tape drive on boot.
#2. Another thing-- The tape drive will NOT show up on the System desktop. It does not work like a regular drive. You need a special program (aka Archiver in GSOS or I believe there are some 8 bit programs, too) that knows how to store files on the tape.
Open Advanced Disk Utilities when in GSOS and see if the SCSITAPE unit is present-- then you will know the drive was identified ok. Then the next test-- see if you can backup. Open archiver, set your "backup to..." device as SCSITAPE and hit start.
When the thing says "insert first backup tape" you insert a tape and hit OK. If it starts giving you errors or repeating the message, then GS/OS doesn't like your tape unit. If it works... then go out for a pizza or something while the thing whiles away at your files. Try recovering selected files after the backup to make sure the archive went ok so you can begin trusting in your tape backups.
----------------------------
From: Bill Harris
The device number (other than being unique) should not be relevent to backing up to tape. I've always used something in the middle range of numbers for my tape, typically id 3 or 4. This included when I was still using the RF prom for backup.
----------------------------
From: Rubywand
RamFAST has a Backup function you can get to via Ramfast.system.
You need to have the "HD Backup" option under the [O]ptions menu set to "No" in order to use tape (instead of something like a Zip Drive) for backup. Then, you can select [B]ackup from the main menu bar.
Regarding the SCSI device number setting, 3 may be fine on a RamFAST. Probably, you would want to remove any Apple drivers named "SCSI ..." from the DRIVERS/ folder to eliminate possible conflicts with the Ramfast driver.
____________________________
From: Glynne Tolar
021- What about tape backup on a IIe?
The RamFAST has built-in volume image backup software (in background). The only backup software I know of for the //e for tape drives is by Tim Grams and it only works with an Apple Rev. C SCSI and the Apple Tape Backup 40SC (3m MCD-40). This software is no longer supported though.
____________________________
From: Supertimer
022- I've heard that Apple's Hi-Speed SCSI card does not
allow swapping Zip disks without turning OFF the computer.
Is this true?
No. The Apple Hi-Speed SCSI interface allows ejecting and swapping removable disks. With a partitioned Zip disk (or CD-ROM), you have to lasso or shift-click to highlight all the partitions and drag them to the trash to eject the disk. (As long as one partition remains on the desktop, the disk stays in.) There is no need to turn off the computer to swap disks.
____________________________
From: Gareth Jones
023- What can I do after the Zip drive connected to my Apple SCSI
goes into Sleep Mode?
A solution is "goosing" the drive by manually ejecting and reinserting it. Apparently, using the SCSI driver for the Apple Card that was sold by Tulin Technologies solves a lot of troubles with the Apple card and a Zip drive. You can get the Tulin SCSI driver from Mr. Wing Chung (104465.3171@COMPUSERVE.COM) for $20.
____________________________
From: Rubywand
024- What is the "Click of Death" reported by some Zip drive users?
Your drive starts to make a clicking sound and soon fails. Disks in a drive which Clicks may be corrupted and, if placed in a good drive, may cause a good drive to start Clicking.
The clicking sound is what you hear when the drive head hits a mechanical stop when it fails to detect and stop at track Zero. Repeated hits lead to misalignment or, even, a broken head and disk tearing.
If your Zip drive starts to click, the standard recommendation is that you immediately eject the disk or, if this is not possible, turn OFF power to the drive (or pull out the power connector on the side of the drive). This may save the drive if the disk is bad or save the disk if the drive has gone bad.
The "Click" has been laid to one or more of several possible causes:
1. Misalignment due to bumping while being carried around
2. Exposure to magnetic fields from monitors and (internal Zips) un-shielded power supplies
3. Faulty or 'weak' drives which got past quality control
4. Use of non-Iomega drivers for accessing and/or formatting Zip disks.
Regarding use of non-Iomega drivers: SuperTimer, I, and other users have done low-level formats and partitioning of several Zip disks on drives connected to the IIgs and used the disks with no problems.
____________________________
From: Scott Alfter
025- What is a "Qic" tape? A friend needs to read a Qic-80 tape.
QIC-80 is a format, not a brand or a specifier of capacity. Uncompressed capacity for tapes in this format range from 60 megs (DC2120) to 250 megs (TR-1 Extra). It was preceded by QIC-40 and has since been superseded by QIC-3010, QIC-3020, and QIC-3095 (the latter format delivers 4 gigabytes (uncompressed) on a TR-4 tape, and is available in SCSI and IDE flavors for fast operation).
I'm not sure what format the 40-meg tape drive Apple used to sell used...it might've been QIC-80 with a shorter tape (they use DC2000 tapes), but it was probably different. I've never had one. For my GS, the tape drive I currently use is an Archive Viper 60S (QIC-24 format, SCSI interface, puts 60 megs on a DC600 cartridge).
____________________________
From: Supertimer
026- How do I restart my HS SCSI + Zip when the Zip deactivates?
The problem is with the Apple SCSI driver. The Zip drive normally deactivates itself after a period of time to conserve energy. The Apple SCSI driver fails to reactivate the Zip when the IIGS tries to access it. If this happens in some programs, data can get corrupted. If it happens in the Finder, the Finder will ask you if you want to format the Zip disk.
You can reacivate your Zip by hitting the eject button and pushing the Zip disk back into the drive after it has ejected. People call this "goosing" the Zip drive. It works and reactivates the Zip.
One complete fix is to replace the Apple SCSI driver with the Tulin one. Some former Tulin employee on Compuserve sells it for $20.
_________________________
Credits
Stecial Thanks to ...
FAQs 'Local' site managers and support
Steve Nelson Ground ISCA AppleII Librarian
David Funk Ground Engineering
Charles "Dr. Tom" Turley GS WorldView
Ronald Clark Apple II Help Page
Michael Maginnis Tarnover
Greg Wildman apple2.org.za
Warren Stramiello White Rabbit mirrors
and to David Alex Lamb and the news.answers team