Excuse my ignorence!

[sidney1975]

Can you use zip drives with a mac?

 

[mmmdreg]

yes

 

[crazzyeddie]

Of course. Iomega has always had Mac support.

 

[abhishekit]

infact when i had to get a zip disk for my earlier xp machine...by mistake i bought one for mac...
)

 

[kanker]

Originally posted by abhishekit
infact when i had to get a zip disk for my earlier xp machine...by mistake i bought one for mac...
)

Now that's as good a reason to switch as any...(as if there's a bad reason)

 

[Dreadnought]

YEP! I have one in my G3 B&W internally! The Zip drives for the mac of today are all external (not a lot of room to put one in there!). So it works with USB (2) and Firewire. Mostly the same drive can be connected to a mac or a Pc and it is only the driver you will have to install (for a pc that is, the mac should recognise it even without a driver!!)

BTW, I don't use it anymore, because I found that Zip disks are pretty fast (internally that is), but not that reliable. I think you are better off with a USB-pen when you are going to use it for transporting data to one mac to antoher. There are cheaper than the zip drive and one disk.

 

[MisterMe]

Originally posted by Dreadnought
YEP! I have one in my G3 B&W internally! The Zip drives for the mac of today are all external (not a lot of room to put one in there!). So it works with USB (2) and Firewire. Mostly the same drive can be connected to a mac or a Pc and it is only the driver you will have to install (for a pc that is, the mac should recognise it even without a driver!!)

BTW, I don't use it anymore, because I found that Zip disks are pretty fast (internally that is), but not that reliable. I think you are better off with a USB-pen when you are going to use it for transporting data to one mac to antoher. There are cheaper than the zip drive and one disk.

I needed a ZIP drive for my new G5. The G5 replaced my old machine in which I had installed an internal 100MB ZIP drive (the highest capacity available at the time) back in 1998. The ZIP drive is a critical node in my sneeker net. I bought a 250 MB USB disk drive at Office Depot. Hooked it up. Works like a charm.

As for the reliability, I have completely filled 70 ZIP disks. In the five years that I have used them, I have experienced exactly one ZIP disk failure. Over that same time, I have experienced two hard drive failures (spread over six Macs). Let's not even talk about floppies. My experience is that ZIP disks have been reliable beyond all expectations.

 

[mmmdreg]

What's sneaker-netting?

 

[MisterMe]

Originally posted by mmmdreg
What's sneaker-netting?

This is the definition given by Sherlock's dictionary:

sneakernet

/snee'ker-net/ n. Term used (generally with ironicintent) for transfer of electronic information by physicallycarrying tape, disks, or some other media from one machine toanother. "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagonfilled with magtape, or a 747 filled with CD-ROMs." Also called`Tennis-Net', `Armpit-Net', `Floppy-Net' or `Shoenet'; in the 1990s,`Nike network' after a well-known sneaker brand.

Source: Jargon File 4.2.0

You may look it up yourself.

 

[Dreadnought]

Originally posted by MisterMe
As for the reliability, I have completely filled 70 ZIP disks. In the five years that I have used them, I have experienced exactly one ZIP disk failure. Over that same time, I have experienced two hard drive failures (spread over six Macs). Let's not even talk about floppies. My experience is that ZIP disks have been reliable beyond all expectations.

Hmmm, then probably something is wrond with my zip drive. The zips are getting really bad after using them a couple of times. The disks I use are from Iomega. When I check them with the program from Iomega it always says the disk needs repair and you get a percentage how much the disk is damaged/unusable blocks etc. After longer use I get more % damages and more unusable block. I only put in about five times or so!