Using Your Peerless Disks

This section describes some of the things you can do with Peerless disks:

Handling Peerless Disks

Always store Peerless disks in their protective cases when they are not inserted in the base station. Always remove the disk from the base station before moving the Peerless drive system.

CAUTION! To prevent damage or data loss, never drop the Peerless disk.

Replacing a Label on a Peerless Disk

Peerless disk labels can easily be removed and replaced. Simply slide the label out from underneath the bubble window on the top end of the disk. Then slide a new label in the same way. Do not apply any type of label directly on the disk.

Backing Up with Peerless Disks

It's important to always keep current backups of your valuable data—whether the primary data is stored on your hard drive or Peerless disks! You can use Peerless disks to back up both.

The easiest way to back up important data files stored on your hard drive is to use Iomega Backup or QuikSync™ (available from Iomega). You can also use your system's standard procedures.

  • On a Mac®, you can drag and drop files from any folder on your Desktop to the Peerless drive system.

  • In Windows® you can use My Computer or Windows Explorer to select files or folders from your hard drive and drag-and-drop them to your Peerless drive system.

One advantage of copying files directly to your Peerless drive system is that you can access them easily any time you need them without having to run a restore procedure.

NOTE: PC Users Only—An individual file that is 4 GB or larger cannot be copied to a Peerless disk due to the FAT 32 file format constraints. If you have a file that is 4 GB or larger, try using a compression utility to make the file smaller. If you can compress it to less than 4 GB, you will be able to copy it to the Peerless disk.


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Read/Write Protecting Peerless Disks

IomegaWare software includes a special read/write protect feature that allows you to:

  • Write Protect a disk through software instead of with a mechanical write protect switch.

  • Write Protect a disk and assign a password so that no one can add, edit, or delete files without entering the password first.

  • Read/Write Protect a disk so that it cannot be read from, or written to, unless the user enters the password you assign.

NOTE: Although Peerless disk protection options are set and removed using IomegaWare software, the actual protection mechanism is secured in the drive hardware. This means the disk protection cannot be bypassed using other software programs. If the Iomega disk is write-protected with a forgotten password, copy the data to another disk, and reformat the original disk for reuse. If the Iomega disk is read/write-protected, the data cannot be recovered and the disk must be reformatted in order to be used again.

Setting Peerless Disk Protection Under Mac OS

  1. Insert the disk you want to protect into your Peerless base station.

  2. Open the IomegaWare folder on your Mac hard disk, then open the Tools folder and double click the Tools icon.

  3. In the main Tools window, click on the icon for the disk you want to protect (or unprotect).

  4. Select the Disk Protection tool.

  5. Choose the protection option you want to use. Click the Help button if you need information on any of the options.


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Setting Peerless Disk Protection Under Windows

  1. Insert the disk you want to protect into your Peerless base station.

  2. Open My Computer and right click on the Peerless icon.

  3. Select Protect or Unprotect from the drive shortcut menu.

  4. Choose the protection option you want to use. Click the Help button if you need information on any of the options.

Formatting Peerless Disks

Peerless disks are preformatted. You must use IomegaWare software to reformat Peerless disks or change the format type (Mac or PC).

CAUTION! Formatting a disk erases all data on the disk. Do not format any disk that contains information you want to keep!

Mac OS Users

  1. Insert the disk you want to format into your Peerless base station.

  2. Open the IomegaWare folder on your Mac hard disk, then open the Tools folder and double click the Tools icon.

  3. In the main Tools window, click on the icon for the disk you want to erase.

  4. Select the Erase Disk tool.

  5. Use Short Erase if you want to quickly erase all data on a disk so you can reuse it. Use Long Erase if you are formatting a disk where you have forgotten the password, or if you need to repair a disk that has developed read/write errors due to bad sectors. Use either option to change the format type from PC to Mac.

  6. Click Erase to start formatting the Peerless disk.


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Windows PC Users

  1. Insert the disk you want to format into your Peerless base station.

  2. Right mouse click on the Peerless icon in My Computer or Windows Explorer.

  3. Select Format from the drive shortcut menu.

  4. Choose the format type:

  5. Use Short Format if you want to quickly erase all data on a disk so you can reuse it. Use Long Format if you are formatting a disk where you have forgotten the password, or if you need to repair a disk that has developed read/write errors due to bad sectors. Use either option to change the format type from Mac to PC.

  6. Click Start to start formatting the Peerless disk.


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Using Peerless Disks Cross-Platform

Mac OS and Windows PC systems use different disk formats. If you use your Peerless disks on both Mac and PC systems, here are some important points you need to know:

CAUTION! Formatting a disk erases all data on the disk. Do not format any disk that contains information you want to keep!

On Mac OS Systems

  • You can use PC-formatted disks on a Mac OS system that has File Exchange 3.0 or higher installed. It is recommended that you use PC-formatted Peerless disks for file transfer only. You may lose file resource information if files you use on a Mac OS system are stored on a PC-formatted disk.

  • You can change a PC-formatted disk to a Mac-formatted disk by using the IomegaWare software on a Mac OS system to erase the disk.

On Windows PC Systems

  • PC systems cannot read a Mac-formatted Peerless disk unless special software is installed on the system. If you try to use a Mac-formatted Peerless disk on a PC that does not have disk exchange software installed, you will see a message indicating that the disk is not formatted.

  • You can change a Mac-formatted disk to a PC-formatted disk by using IomegaWare software on a PC to erase the disk.


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Transferring Files Between Mac and PC

If you need to transfer files between a Mac and PC, you can use a PC-formatted Peerless disk if File Exchange 3.0 or higher or PC Exchange version 2.0 or higher is loaded on the Mac. You can use a Mac-formatted Peerless disk if the PC has disk exchange software installed.

NOTE: The Peerless drive system does not convert file formats. When using files cross-platform, the file format and application must work on both Mac and PC platforms.


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