What zip disk to use?

Im running a MPC2kxl with an external iomega 100mb zip drive. Many disks load just fine but I've noticed certain disks give me a "disk read error" and a click of death. So, t's only certain disks giving me the error message. I've used the disks that give me the error message before. Meaning I've saved and loaded from them in the past but after a while some start not reading. The disks that work most consistently all are PC100mb or Mac100mb but the ones that just say 100mb on them seem to not work after a while. Am I using the wrong disks? Could this be a formatting issue? Should I only use disks that are PC/Mac? Could it be the disk itself ?Because even one of the PC100mb disks I've used in the past doesn't load anymore. Please help, not knowing if my work is saving properly and that I can retrieve the beat once its done is discouraging me from even turning the MP on.

Lampdog wrote:Get rid of zip disks and go for a card reader.

How does the card reader work? Is it an internal installation in the MPC? What kind is best? links?

Check the sticky topic at the top of the forum.

new to forum use. wtf is a sticky topic?

sticky topics aside. my question has yet to be answered. I understand getting a card reader is a better option but thats not what I'm wondering about.

The type of Zip drive is with SCSI port, AND has two switches on the back, for termination, and SCSI ID select (only 6 and 5 though.)

I heard that there is "AutoDetect" version, which I heard that doesn't work with MPCs.

Note that there is Zip drive that connects with parallel port (it looks very simular to SCSI version), those won't work with MPCs.

Both 100M version and 250M version would work with MPCs. Just make sure that it has SCSI port with 2 switches on the back.

Im using the Z100s2 zip drive, the one with two switches on the back. I don't think the problem is the drive. I can load/save fine from certain disks.

Zip disks AND driver have been known as unreliable media. It can happen that some of your Zip disks are no longer working.

If you are planning to keep on using Zip disks then you should buy a few Zip drives as back-ups because they do eventually fail... this is probably why the company went belly up. And buy as many zip discs as you can to have on hand as well. It's not the ideal solution—card reader hello but it is a way to work. I have the MPC 2000 with a zip drive and the MPC 2000 XL with the card reader.

JVC wrote:Zip disks AND driver have been known as unreliable media. It can happen that some of your Zip disks are no longer working.

THIS. I has a terrible time with zips. Firstly, the unit cost me a fortune considering it wasn't worth shit. Secondly, the zip disks were also hard to find. Thirdly, the disks were terribly unreliable. I lost work, time, got frustrated. Finally, the zip drive damaged the integrity of my sampler. I kept getting system error messages that messed me up constantly. In short a complete waste of time.

Do yourself a big favour and buy a card reader directly from addonics. CF cards are durable and reliable. It's a simple update to OS 1.20 and physical install of drive. Furthermore, it's cheap and you can transfer wav files directly from your PC and MPC.

Do it man. It'll be the best decision you've ever made in your life.

chrisrob101 wrote:Do it man. It'll be the best decision you've ever made in your life.

Hey @chrisrob101 is this the product you are talking about:
http://www.addonics.com/products/adsacf.php
or maybe this one:
http://www.addonics.com/products/adidecf.php

My card reader for my MPC 2000 XL came from elsewhere but I'm interested in this for my MPC 2000.