Accessing OLD files from an Iomega Jaz Drive on my current Yosemite-running Mac

[12figureitout]

Any thoughts on how I can get my iMac (running OS 10.10.3) to recognize an old 1997 Jaz drive so I can attempt to access some old MS Word files? I have a USB adapter that allows me to connect it physically. I just need the proper drivers, etc. to be able to get this old and new equipment to communicate.

 

[rkaufmann87]

Any thoughts on how I can get my iMac (running OS 10.10.3) to recognize an old 1997 Jaz drive so I can attempt to access some old MS Word files? I have a USB adapter that allows me to connect it physically. I just need the proper drivers, etc. to be able to get this old and new equipment to communicate.

Have you connected it via USB? It should be seen as any other USB drive in Finder.

 

[JackRoch]

Any thoughts on how I can get my iMac (running OS 10.10.3) to recognize an old 1997 Jaz drive so I can attempt to access some old MS Word files? I have a USB adapter that allows me to connect it physically. I just need the proper drivers, etc. to be able to get this old and new equipment to communicate.

Anything here of any help? http://bit.ly/1R7Hwbk

 

[qb7]

Were you ever able to get the Jaz to work? I'm trying to check over 25 Jaz cartridges before I get rid of them. I've got the Microtech USB / SCSI converter and my MacPro shows it in System Profile.

But nothing I do makes any of the cartridges show un the Finder or Disk Utility.

MacPro late 2013 with El Cap - 10.11.02

 

[phrehdd]

The question is what was the original computer and operating system used to connect the drive. Recall that Windows was at that time either 16 or 32 bit and Mac's operating system too, was quite different.

If DOS/Windows was used, then you might be able to use a virtual DOS or Windows and install the drivers required. As for Mac, I admit I didn't use Mac then and don't even know if proper software/drivers and Rosetta would work.

 

[AppleWhatGives]

I'm currently trying to do the same. I have the adaptech scsi to usb adapter and am connected to the macbook pro running Catalina. I can see the usb interface, but the computer refuses to see the actual disc. Actually, it doesn't even see the drive, which i find to be more disconcerting. any help would be appreciated.

 

[jrp2010]

I'm currently trying to do the same. I have the adaptech scsi to usb adapter and am connected to the macbook pro running Catalina. I can see the usb interface, but the computer refuses to see the actual disc. Actually, it doesn't even see the drive, which i find to be more disconcerting. any help would be appreciated.

I saw a youtube video where they were doing it with the Castlewood Orb USB adapter and the man said that the scsi number had to be set to 0 for mac's. Maybe try that and please post results.

 

[Fishrrman]

I never owned a Jaz drive, but I did own an SCSI ZIP100 drive from "way back when". I also scrounged up a USB ZIP100 drive that still works with the Mac today, and will still read disks more than 25 years old.

I'm not sure about the drivers on Jaz drives, but I do know that a Mac-formatted ZIP disk has an "on disk" driver. That is, no "OS driver" is needed. How this would work is...
- boot the Mac
- Mac "polls the buses" to see what drives are connected and what drivers are available
- Mac finds the ZIP drive (with the disk in it), reads and loads the on-disk driver, and then is able to mount the disk on the desktop.

So... I'm thinking that if one has Mac-formatted Jaz drives, the process may be the same.
Of course, you have to have the Jaz drive connected first so the disk spins up at boot time.

Not sure how this would work if the Jaz disks one has are NOT Mac-formatted (i.e., are in a PC/Windows format).
I'm wondering if it might be possible to access these through bootcamp (although I wouldn't install bootcamp just to access them).
Or... perhaps using an emulated setup such as Parallels or VMWare fusion?