Parts of a zip disk

The files that had been readable before remained readable. If I put the unreadable disk back in, the drive would click like before. I could even isolate it to specific files; try to read a single unreadable file, and the drive would do the clicking thing. The drive is semi transparent, so I was able to watch the mechanism during this process. It might just be trying again. Or it might be that Click of Death thing…but probably not.

See the Wikipedia writeup if you want the nitty-gritty on the Click of Death. There is some good theory there to explain what some people experienced. I had an experience with SyQuest cartridges once that suggests a different way that a whole stack of magnetic media can be rendered useless, without the drive being at fault.

So I got most of my files back. Turns out I had duplicated many of the files over multiple disks, so there was some sorting to be done. But there was novelty in seeing some things I had not thought about in a long time, like a web site I made in , and collection of illustrations for print ads.

The drive will go to a friend who who has a similar project to do. Some three years later, I am now going through the process of transferring old files from Zip drives and all have been successful, except 1. On a Mac High Sierra it recommends reinitializing is that right? If the disks that you have been able to read were also Zip s, and were originally written by the same OS version as the problem disk, then there must be something wrong with the disk.

Orientation: The entire interior assembly which you see above forms a tray which is mounted on a sliding track that allows it to move from the front of the drive to the back.

A spring mounted between points "A" and "B" is always trying to pull the tray toward the front of the drive - which ejects the disk cartridge. In this picture the tray is shown in its fully "back" position, as if a disk were in the drive, but normally, with no disk in the drive, the tray would be as far to the front to the right in this photo as possible. Disk Insertion: As a disk is inserted, the swing arm pawl "C" catches the edge of the disk cartridge's metal shutter and begins sliding it into the fully open position.

The spring tension from this swing arm also creates a gentle opposing force to eject the cartridge from the drive. After the disk cartridge reaches the back barrier "D" it begins pushing the entire tray assembly toward the rear of the drive.

The track in which the tray slides is angled upward so that as the tray is pushed further back by the cartridge the tray rises to meet the cartridge and the disk spindle motor "E" engages with the bottom of the disk. The gray magnetic ring around the motor's hub locks the disk's mating hub tightly to the motor. The lever "F" is an emergency head retractor which acts to insure that the drive's heads will be mechanically retracted if power is not available to do the job electronically. So as the tray continues it's rearward travel one of two pawls extending down into the drive from the lid not seen here pushes this emergency head retractor forward and out of the way, freeing the heads for their eventual travel.

Meanwhile, the second lid-mounted downward extending pawl has been engaging the funky looking white cam "G" , pushing it away from the center of the drive. This releases the mechanical head-lock which prevents the heads from deploying without a cartridge present. As the tray reaches its back-most travel limit, this second pawl drops into the notch shown just above the "G" label, locking the tray at the back of the drive. FotoShow —a glorified MB Zip drive with a composite TV output that served up still image slideshows from Zip disks—was another interesting attempt.

It was intended for business presentations and people who wanted to show their family photos on a TV. While it was a clever idea, its clunky, slow software held it back. Not long after launch, Zip disks found a killer application with graphic designers who commonly used Macs. The disks became the de facto standard for transferring high-resolution artwork between machines or to printshops.

After most of the world had forgotten about Zip disks, graphic designers still commonly used them. By the end of the decade, you could get one for just a few cents.

ZipCD initially sold well, but it quickly gained a bad reputation for unreliability. Businesses also started installing local area networks LANs in ever-increasing numbers. LANs allowed large file transfers between machines without any removable media at all.

At that point, Zip disks had already become largely irrelevant for most people. Amazingly, though, even 25 years later, Zip is not entirely dead. According to Wikipedia , some aviation companies still use Zip disks to distribute data updates for airplane navigation systems. For a while, vintage computer enthusiasts Atari, Mac, Commodore also often used SCSI Zip drives to quickly transfer data, although that has now largely been replaced by flash media interfaces.

While few people still use Zip media, the format did shine brightly in the s. So, happy birthday, Zip! Did you use a ZIP drive back in the day? What did you use it for? Use Google Fonts in Word. Use FaceTime on Android Signal vs. Customize the Taskbar in Windows What Is svchost. Best Smartwatches. Best Gaming Laptops. Best Smart Displays. Best Home Security Systems. Best External Solid State Drives.

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