Using Your Zip Drive

To use the Zip drive, insert a Zip disk, then select the Zip drive letter or disk icon on your computer. You can store and copy files to and from the Zip drive using the same methods you use for other drives on your system. If you need instructions on how to copy files, refer to the help files for your operating system.

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Inserting Zip Disks

1. Insert the disk gently. 2. Disk shown fully inserted.

Always turn on power to the computer before inserting a Zip disk. When you insert a Zip disk, the green activity light will flash momentarily and go out. If the light continues to blink slowly, push the disk eject button to eject the Zip disk, then reinsert it.

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Ejecting Zip Disks

Mac^® OS Systems: Select the Zip disk icon and use Put Away from the File menu, or drag the disk icon to the Trash icon.

Windows^® 95/98/Me systems: Push the disk eject button or use the IomegaWare^™ software eject command. This command is available when you right click on the drive icon in My Computer or Windows Explorer.

Windows NT^® 4.0 and Windows 2000^® systems: Use the IomegaWare software eject command.

CAUTION! To avoid damage to your Zip drive or Zip disk, always remove the disk when it is not in use or before disconnecting or moving your Zip drive.

Disk Eject in Case of Power Loss

The computer must be powered on for normal disk insertion and removal. If you need to eject a Zip disk during a power failure, access the rear of the Zip drive and push a straightened paper clip into the eject hole which is located just above the power connector (see illustration below).

CAUTION! Disconnect power from the computer before using the emergency disk eject hole. Do not try to forcibly remove a Zip disk from the drive. If the disk does not eject immediately, repeat the emergency disk eject procedure as described above.

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Drive Sleep

The Zip SCSI drive has an automatic sleep mode that spins down a Zip disk after 15 minutes of inactivity. This feature minimizes power consumption when the Zip drive is not being accessed. The Zip disk automatically spins up again when the drive is accessed.

Compatibility with 100MB Zip Disks

The Zip 250 drive features backward compatibility that allows you to read and write to 100MB* Zip disks. Because of the higher capacity of the Zip 250 drive, however, performance when writing to a 100MB Zip disk is significantly reduced. This means that a large file that takes 10 seconds to write to a 250MB* Zip disk could take about 90 seconds to write to a 100MB Zip disk (using your Zip 250 SCSI drive to write both disks).

To maximize performance of your Zip 250 drive, you should use 250MB Zip disks whenever you want to store new information. If you have existing data on 100MB disks, you can transfer it to 250MB Zip disks using the Iomega Copy Disk tool. See Copying Zip Disks.

Here are some important things to know about using 250MB and 100MB Zip disks and drives together:

• If the Zip 250 drive appears to hang when you are writing to a 100MB Zip disk, you can verify that the drive is operating correctly by checking that the green activity light is blinking irregularly. (A slow, steady blink may indicate a problem with the drive. If there is a slow, steady blink, try pushing the disk eject button to eject the disk, then reinserting the disk.)

• You can use the Short Format option if you need to format a 100MB Zip disk in a Zip 250 drive; the Long Format option is not supported for 100MB Zip disks in the Zip 250 drive.

• A 250MB Zip disk cannot be used in a Zip 100 drive; the Zip 100 drive will automatically reject a 250MB disk.

If you encounter any problems using 100MB Zip disks in your Zip 250 drive, contact Iomega Technical Support.

*250MB capacity where 1MB = 1 million bytes. The capacity reported by your operating system may vary.

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