Whither ZIP Drives?

12/3/03

[pabianice]

My four year old Dell Pentium-III/450MHz PC has become overwhelmed by multi-tasking (I'm a writer/researcher and typically have 6-8 screens open at a time) and crashes at least once a day.

In looking at new PCs I find that they no longer offer built-in Zip drives. This is very bad news as I have perhaps 100 zip disks containing needed and irreplacable material.

1. Can one still buy a new PC with a Zip drive?

2. If not, what is the best way to convert all zipped data to CD format, and what accessories are needed?

Thanks.

[Smogger]

Just buy an internal Zip drive and install it yourself.

I reccommend looking here for the absolute cheapest prices on all computer hardware software: www.pricewatch.com

[VRWCmember]

Get an external zip drive with a USB cable. They're inexpensive and easy to use. Then if you have a writable CD/DVD drive it is very easy to simply copy multiple zip discs to a single CD-R.

[hattend]

You can still buy new Zip drives but they may not work with the older lower capacity disks.

Take your old drive out of the old PC and install it in your new one.

Order your new PC with a DVD-CD-RW drive and it will come with the needed software installed and just transfer all your Zip drive stuff over to CD. Very easy to do, as easy as copying files.

[FairOpinion]

You can still get a Dell computer with a ZIP drive built in, I just helped a friend order one.

IF they don't offer it in their home/home office section, try their small business section, the computers are not any more expensive, but they offer more customized options.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&kc=6V590&l=en&oc=D83SO&s=dhs

[wrench]

Or...you can get an external USB Zip drive and with an internal CD burner, you can both use your current zip media, and transfer what you want to CDR's or DVD's.

[Toonces T. Cat]

Get a USB Zip drive...You can find them online via "PriceWatch" for under $100...In fact NewEgg has a 250Mb unit, which will read your 100Mb disks, for $80 with a $30 mail in rebate offer.

-Toonces

[Paradox]

HEre at work, we had the same problem, however Dell sells systems that can be configured with Zip drives.

[LouD]

Check out www.iomega.com - they list dealers, and also sell through the website. Installing an internal ZIP drive is relatively easy, or you can just buy an external and just plug it in.

[Toonces T. Cat]

>>>Just buy an internal Zip drive and install it yourself.

Many of the newer OEM motherboards, like Dell and Gateway, will not support an IDE Zip drive.

-Toonces

[The Dude Abides]

1. Buy a cheap new hard drive or use zip drive/CD RW)
2. Move important files to new drive
3. Make a Windows boot disk with CD rom drivers
4. Format your old hard drive
5. Re-install windows
6. Move important files back from new drive.
Enjoy- maybe you don't need to buy a new system

[VRWCmember]

I reccommend looking here for the absolute cheapest prices on all computer hardware software: www.pricewatch.com

Here's another good source: http://froogle.google.com/

Along with http://www1.dealtime.com/ or http://www.shopping.com/

[Mr.Atos]

An internal ZIP will be a little faster, but either method is good.

I have an external and internal, but with the advent of pocket drives, they are obsolete to me. I'll likely seel both cheap soon.

You should be able to find them cheap.

Atos

[HamiltonJay]

ZIP is pretty much obsolete now due to burnable CDRoms... you can still buy internal and external ZIP drives to my knowlege, but they generally are not an option with new PC's anymore.

[Smogger]

I betcha http://www.pricewatch.com beats the prices of both of those other websites. It's damn near a secret. ;-)

[VRWCmember]

When I have the time I'll do some price comparisons.

[VRWCmember]

I like Froogle because I was recently able to find a quick shoe camera mount for my monopod that I had previously been unable to locate ANYWHERE else.

[Trailer Trash]

Buy a 256 mb jump drive. Fits in your pocket. No drivers. Plug it into the old machine's USB, and fill it up with the data on the zip.

Walk over to the old machine and drag it into the new machine. Repeat the process for every zip in your stack.

If the new machine has a cdrw or better a cd/dvdrw then you can back it up there.

After that, thank your lucky stars that you didn't wait any longer..

When the last zip drive finally finds it's way into the trash bin, we'll all be way ahead.

[shadowman99]

You need to migrate away from that thing.... Look into USB Keys for your portable file needs. They are solid state, so there's no "click death' issue like on Zip drives.

CDs are cheaper and hold more, so they are better for long term storage.

[Spiff]

Get a DVD-R or DVD+R drive. You will be able to fit the contents of ALL of your ZIP disks onto three $2 DVD disks. Staples has such drives for $150, TigerDirect has a no-name brand for $99.

Just copy the contents of 33 disks to a folder on your hard drive, fire up your burner application, and then burn all that to a DVD. Check DVD burned OK, then delete all of the stuff in the folder and do it again with the next 33 disks, then again.