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Could I use a USB Zip drive with a Windows 10 PC?

My family recently sold the house I grew up in requiring me to remove a number of boxes that I had stored there.  In those boxes was a Zip Drive (parallel port version) I had purchased in or around 1996.  There were also a number of 100 MB zip disks.  I know, imagine a disk that could store a whole 100 MB!!!  I don't remember exactly what is stored on those disks.  There were probably backups of my 486 PC and files I moved to a zip disk to make room on my 420 MB HD.  I would like to find something that will let me read those disks because there may be pictures or other files I would like to have.  But since I haven't accessed any of these disks in well over 20 years, there are limits to how much I am willing to spend.

 

I am not sure if the drive I have still works, but as I don't have a PC with a parallel port, it doesn't really matter.  There are USB Zip Drives available on eBay for between $16 and $60.  I am willing to spend that much, but I am concerned there will be driver and/or Windows 10 issues.  Does anyone know if a USB Zip drive will work with Windows 10? 

 

I actually looked at some vintage PCs on eBay and saw a 486 clone that from the pictures not only had a parallel port, but appeared to have an internal Zip Drive for $450 with shipping.   But what it didn't have was a description, other than a statement that the seller didn't accept returns.  I might be tempted to buy that machine if I wasn't worried the only thing in the PC case was a burnt out motherboard and broken CPU.  

 

Thanks in advance for any info/advice you guys can share.

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You should be able to use it as long as you can plug it

You can try with a usb to parallel port adapter spacer.png

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Yes, if the USB zip drive works at all it will work on Windows 10.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

 

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Yes, USB Zip drives work fine with Windows 10. I have a USB 750MB one and it works fine; it shows up as a regular flash drive with a disk inserted.

elephants

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I doubt it would work through the USB to Parallel cable since that would require working drivers for Windows 10.

Slayerking92

<Type something witty here>
<Link to some pcpartpicker fantasy build and claim as my own>

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  • 1 year later...

I recently used Parted Magic Linux to recover Iomega Zip 100 discs, using parallel port drive. The USB to Parallel cable didn't work for me. Had to load "imm" and "ppa" modules to make the parallel port drivers work. After that, I was able to mount 15 of 18 discs. The other 3 were defective. Was a fun project. Typically the FAT32 volumes are on /dev/sdX4 (/dev/sdb4 in this case). Some were formatted for /dev/sdb1. I always had them mount as the 4th partition back in the 90s. Drives with USB or IDE interface should work with no problem, but I only had parallel port drive available recently. 

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Just saw this thread, and it reminded me I have my old Zip drive and a bunch of disks, going to dig them out soon and see what I have on them. I haven't thought about the Zip drive in many years.

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