Old Zip Drive Question

Postby **Mr. Rogers** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 2:27 pm

I am trying to install an old zip drive on a laptop with windows 98. On the back of the drive, there is a SCSI ID switch and termination. It is a SCSI drive and the cable has a SCSI logo on it. Although it will fit in my parallel port, I don't think it will actually work there, will it?

Postby **Slater** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 4:14 pm

I think it will. You mean the printer port ja? It's useful for more than just printing... I use it for my zipdrive and (this only works under Win95 OS) N64 Rom Ripping.

Postby **shooraijin** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 6:29 pm

NO! DO NOT PLUG IT IN YOUR PRINTER PORT!!!

I'm serious -- that's a 25-pin SCSI cable, NOT a parallel port cable! You could fry the Zip drive, the mobo or both!

Get a SCSI card and use that! Yes, there are SCSI interface cards for PCMCIA that will work with your laptop. But do NOT plug it in the printer port!

Postby **Slater** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 6:49 pm

meh? that's never happened to me. As a matter of fact, the employee we bought it from said that it was made to be plugged into the printer port...

Edit: Wait, I think we're talking about 2 different things now... got any pictures of the plug?

Postby **Mr. Rogers** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 8:12 pm

shooraijin wrote:NO! DO NOT PLUG IT IN YOUR PRINTER PORT!!!

I'm serious -- that's a 25-pin SCSI cable, NOT a parallel port cable! You could fry the Zip drive, the mobo or both!

Get a SCSI card and use that! Yes, there are SCSI interface cards for PCMCIA that will work with your laptop. But do NOT plug it in the printer port!

didn't think so XD

Postby **shooraijin** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 10:28 pm

Slater wrote:meh? that's never happened to me. As a matter of fact, the employee we bought it from said that it was made to be plugged into the printer port...

Edit: Wait, I think we're talking about 2 different things now... got any pictures of the plug?

No, the plugs are the same between the SCSI and the printer port version of the Zip drives. That's the whole problem. The printer port Zip drives don't have a SCSI ID switch.

Postby **Mithrandir** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 5:25 pm

Shooby is correct. It's the same DB25 connector, but it's wired totally differently. If you try to use a SCSI drive on a parallel port, you can
ruin the port forever (trust me, I've done it).

Slater: Please be sure you know what you are talking about before giving advice that can harm the system.

Old Zip Drive Question

Old Zip Drive Question

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