Zip woes, OS 1.14, and sought recommendations

What's up fellow beat makers.

I have an MPC2000xl with OS 1.14 (found that out just now). I had been using an internal ZIP 100 drive that I got off eBay for a few years with no problem. Then out of the blue, it stopped working. I purchased another internal Zip drive, installed it, and used that one for a few months without a problem. Then, out of the blue, it stopped working too. Though both replace "floppy" w "atapi", it keeps telling me "not ready". I've ejected, re inserted disks, flipped the pin cable every way possible, played with the master pin on the back of the drives. You name it. I purchased a random third ZIP drive, tried the same and nothing (this one doesn't even replace "floppy" w "atapi").

I then purchased an external zip 100 SCSI drive, but see now that is not compatible (it's not the "plus" version.) it doesn't have those SCSI id switches on the back.

So yea. I'm stuck. My mpc powers on and works just fine but does not recognize the internal Zip disks. I have three of them just sitting around and a handful of Zip disks with all my beats on them.

Not sure what to do.

Suggestions?

I thought of purchasing a compatible external SCSI Zip drive (if so which one) but then thought that if I was gonna spend more money, might as well get a card reader (and if so, which one?). In said case, would the card reader be compatible with OS 1.14? And if not, how would I update to OS 1.20 if I don't have any functional Zip disk or floppy drive laying around?

Either way it looks like I'm gonna have to spend money on this thing. Unless anybody here can identify what I can do to make my Zip drives work.

At the end of the day, I don't care what format disk I use. I just need to get to beat making again and built in ram doesn't cut it.

Thanks bro's.

reddpr wrote:Suggestions?

Maybe stop using Zips?

Hi reddpr!

I've been using ZIP since 1999 with my 2K classic and never had any problem.

That being said, your internal drive might just be broken. It sometimes happens with this technology.

If you're using 100 mb disks, I suggest to buy a proper external IOMEGA ZIP drive (with the SCSI switch on the back and all). They go for cheap on eBay.

If you're using 250 mb disks, the same solution applies, but the 250 mb drive is more expensive than the 100 mb one.

Hope it helps a little...

reddpr wrote:In said case, would the card reader be compatible with OS 1.14? And if not, how would I update to OS 1.20 if I don't have any functional Zip disk or floppy drive laying around?

If you are going the card reader route, there is a high likelihood you'll need to update the OS.

In your case you will either need a SCSI Zip drive or Floppy drive. The MPC 2000XL uses a standard PC floppy drive, but if you do not have the correct cables, you may be better off picking up a Zip drive

External SCSI Zip Drives are plentiful and cheap on eBay if you're not paying the markup for one that has "MPC" in the listing. If you have a computer repair shop near you, they may have one they can sell to you. A lot of times this stuff is sitting around gathering dust and they are happy to get rid of it.

Zip drives do have a bad rap, but when they work they do work well. I still have zip drives in some of my gear. At some point they'll need to be replaced, but until then I can find better ways to spend my money.

Hey just a quick question on this topic, though this thread is quite old - is it possible to back up the OS on your MPC to Zip disc via an external SCSI Zip drive??
Thanks!

Hey LV!
You sure can, but as far as I know, you need a computer (that's what I did).
MPC 2000 formatted ZIP can be read from a computer.
What I did was copy the content from my boot floppy into a ZIP.
Now I can boot my MPC straight from the ZIP and don't need the boot floppy anymore.
Hope that helps!

rhythm-x wrote:MPC 2000 formatted ZIP can be read from a computer.
What I did was copy the content from my boot floppy into a ZIP.
Now I can boot my MPC straight from the ZIP and don't need the boot floppy anymore.

He is talking about an MPC2000XL, which doesn't need a boot floppy anyway.