iomega zip 100/ Win7 problems

Whaddup peeps, so I happened to find an iomega zip 100 usb drive at a thrift store. I've plugged it into my Windows 7 machine and the drive is recognized as "Iomega zip 100 (E:)"

When I insert an iomega zip 100 disk into the drive, it tries to read the disk and the orange light turns on but disappears after it gives up on reading the disk. I then try to open the drive to read the disk on "My Computer", but it tells me "Please insert a disk into Iomega zip 100 (E:)"

So I went to the tech support page for iomega and found that
"Zip® 100MB, 250MB or 750MB USB, ATAPI, FireWire or SCSI drives should work with native Windows 7 drivers. IomegaWare software does NOT work with Windows 7, so features supplied by IomegaWare will not be available"

So does this mean since I have an Iomega brand disk that my system cannot read the disk? Im wondering if I try using another brand zip disk if this problem will persist?

and if anyone knows if my hypothesis is incorrect, could you please point me in the right direction, WITHOUT referring a card reader/jazz drive. Do I need an older operating system?

thanks in advance

The reasons why I want to use the zip drive so bad is because

A. My MPC came with an internal zip drive already, and I have no other way of saving sequences and/or songs from my mpc.

B. Too broke to afford a card reader at the moment, and I just so happened to find this external zip for around 5 bucks!

I got the external scsi cd drive but you cant save onto that, only load from it!

I've made a song on my mpc and haven't turned it off in around 2 or 3 days because I don't want to lose the song due to my lack of memory storage! what do I do???

think about it this way, if you save to zip you are not really saving your beat at all, because it could be dead the next time you try to use it.

the problem could be any number of things...

i know it was a good snag at a thrift store, but zips are totally worthless. i think you'd be better off spending that $5 on a cassette deck and just recording your beats as you do them.

Back before I installed a CF, I used an Iomega USB on Windows 7. I installed no Iomega software. I would make sure to format the zips in the XL, then add folders in Windows Explorer.

If I formatted the zip on the PC it would never be seen in the MPC and I could not re-format it in the MPC.

I don't know if that's the usual way on these Iomegas but that's how mine worked.

In general on any removable media if it says there's no disk and there is, the disk is corrupted or dead. Can not say fully if it's the Zip drive itself though. As was mentioned the discs themselves and the drives are literally ticking time bombs and zip is the worst storage medium ever made.

Search the forum, you can do a $10 CF mod if you're willing to get the right parts and drill a hole and use a bracket to mount the inexpensive ones.

But I think they just mean you can't use the disc management Iomega software that you shouldn't need anyway. All my discs were Iomega, but I can't see why a working zip drive wouldn't read any brand of disc if it's not corrupted/dead.

StickiFingaz wrote:
I've made a song on my mpc and haven't turned it off in around 2 or 3 days because I don't want to lose the song due to my lack of memory storage! what do I do???

Song can't be that good, you are killing your display doing this.

After going through the problems with the Envision display and having to cannibalize a DPS for a display I would never leave the 2k or 2kXL on for days.

As for that Zip drive stuff I still have a couple of JAZ drives the redesigned 2g version with the translucent case.
They work fine but I would never put my faith in them for main MPC storage, same is true with the ZIP drive in the OG 2k.

I would probably do floppies until I could afford to do a reader, since the Iomega stuff dies without warning.

Lampdog wrote:

ntalec wrote:Song can't be that good, you are killing your display doing this.

+1

yeah I had a feeling it wasn't good for the display.

well I think its the drives that have gone bad because I ordered a brand new zip disk and ive saved the necessary data onto it, but the external drive cant read the disks it keeps telling me to insert a disk. I turned the mpc off and back on and loaded everything from the disk just fine. So i'm guessing I need a new external drive to transfer the song onto my computer. Im sure I can find the answer to this next question by doing some research, which I plan to do, but if anyone could save me some time and tell me how to convert the finished song into an mp3 so I can actually play it on other devices? (once I have an external drive that can read my disks)

rookie move on my part though here people my bad

You can use iTunes to convert WAV to mp3.

Change the import setting in preferences to mp3, 320kbps is the top bit rate available for mp3.

Then just highlight the WAV file with the mouse, and right click, choose convert to mp3.

but when I save to the disk from the mpc, it saves as a midi file not a wav, does it automatically turn to a wav when viewed from the computer?

tapedeck wrote:i think you'd be better off spending that $5 on a cassette deck and just recording your beats as you do them.

im not joking here. then you can record the tape to your computer and convert to mp3.

nothing that comes out of the mpc will play on anything but an mpc. yes you will get a midi file but that does not include the sounds/programs.

to get a song off your mpc you have to record it at some point.

you could skip the cassette and record the main output of your mpc into your computer - that would be the simplest.

Lampdog wrote:

StickiFingaz wrote:but when I save to the disk from the mpc, it saves as a midi file not a wav, does it automatically turn to a wav when viewed from the computer?

No it doesn't and ur understanding of how the 2kxl needs work.
You don't understand the capabilities and weaknesses of ur machine at all.
Nothing is automagic. Follow tapedecks advice.

JUST DO IT. It's like a VCR. You know over time it eats your tapes but you refuse to get rid of it so you can watch old home movies. I thought I was more "old school" using a zip which is bs, but we all learn eventually.

and Lampdog said it best.