Backing Up with Zip Disks | Copying Zip Disks
Read/Write Protecting Zip Disks
Formatting Zip Disks | Using Zip Disks Cross-Platform

 

Using Zip® Disks

Use only genuine 100MB* Zip® disks with your Zip drive. This section describes some of the things you can do with Zip disks.

* 100MB where 1MB=1 million bytes. The capacity reported by your operating system may vary.

CAUTION! 250MB Zip® disks do not work in the Zip® 100 Parallel Port drive.

Backing Up with Zip® Disks

Always keep current backups of your valuable data—whether the primary data is stored on your hard drive or Zip® disks. You can use Zip disks to back up both. See Copying Zip Disks for information on how to make backup copies of your Zip disks.

You can also back up important data files by using your system's standard procedures to copy the files to your Zip® drive. For example, if your operating system is Windows® 95/98, you can use My Computer or Windows® Explorer to select files or folders from your hard drive and drag and drop them on your Zip drive. One advantage of copying files directly to your Zip drive is that you can access them easily any time you need them without running a restore procedure.


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Copying Zip® Disks

The simplest way to copy your Zip® disks is with Iomega's Copy Disk tool. This tool duplicates Zip disks using a single Zip drive.

  1. Insert the disk you want to copy into your Zip® drive.

  2. Right click the Zip® drive icon in My Computer or Windows® Explorer.

  3. Select the Iomega Copy Disk tool (indicated with the stylized "i" logo) from the drive shortcut menu.

  4. Follow the onscreen instructions in the Copy Disk tool. If you need additional information, click the help button.

NOTE: The Iomega Copy Disk tool cannot copy files that are open or in use at the time the copy is made.


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Read/Write Protecting Zip® 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.

Instructions for Setting Zip® Disk Protection:

  1. Insert the disk you want to protect into your Zip® drive.

  2. Open My Computer and right click on the Zip® drive icon.

  3. Select Protect 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.

NOTE: Although Zip® 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.


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Formatting Zip® Disks

Zip® disks are available preformatted. You can format your Zip disks to quickly erase all of the files on the disk, change the format type, or to repair a disk that has developed bad sectors.

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

Formatting instructions:

  1. Insert the disk you want to format into your Zip® drive.

  2. Right click on the Zip® drive icon in My Computer or Windows® Explorer.

  3. Select Format from the drive shortcut menu.

  4. Choose the format type:

    • 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.

  5. Use either option to change the format type from Mac® to PC.

  6. Click Start to start formatting the Zip® disk.


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Using Zip® Disks Cross-Platform

  • PC systems cannot read a Mac®-formatted disk unless special software is installed on the system. If you try to use a Mac-formatted 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.

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


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