I don't know any way to tell for sure, but looking into the drive without a disk inserted to verify the heads are not bent or broken off is a good start

All clean.

In fact it's unable to read the disk because of that error, but doesn't click like it is of death.
Probably faulty support.

I'll wait for more support.

That sounds like a bad disk to me. I've had a small number of disks fail on me and that sounds about right for a bad disk.

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2021-04-29, 21:39:

That sounds like a bad disk to me. I've had a small number of disks fail on me and that sounds about right for a bad disk.

I misread "sounds about right for a bad unit" 😀 hopefully I just need to buy an overpriced disk and test it.
This is like when I take my car for servicing, the guy always tells me that most people don't know what "wrong" sounds like.

I was wondering, is the click of death already present by just putting a disk in or,
does it need to be accessed via a pc and then it starts clicking?

I have another person willing to sell one unit but can't test it because of no lpt port on his ryzen.

Nexxen wrote on 2021-04-29, 21:33:

Probably faulty support.

I'll wait for more support.

what does this mean?

maxtherabbit wrote on 2021-04-29, 22:21:

Nexxen wrote on 2021-04-29, 21:33:

Probably faulty support.

I'll wait for more support.

what does this mean?

Not checking what you write and how.

Faulty disk.
I'll wait for more advice.

Click of death.

For this reason I didn't own zip stuff. One time I was given a broken zip drive back then, and disassembled it. Cheap construction (all plastic), very weak rails for heads, and heads is not that accurate, and no measures in dust protection in order to keep mechanism and disk cartridge clean.

Should had kept the Iomega bernoulli drive design which used two flexible discs sandwiched with heads at certain distance apart (not clamped) and relied on Bernoulli effect to pull discs' toward heads, and adapt it for 100MB to 500MB range. Too bad. Very reliable design, if any problems the centripetal force effect of flexible discs pulls the discs away from heads.

Cheers,

It doesn't sound like a click of death problem. I have a drive with that problem and it just repeatedly clicks untill the disk or power is removed. What he is describing sounds exactly how my drives act when a disk has gone bad.

Bottom line, buy a new disk and test it again to see if it works.

For what I got it I don't mind having it on display, 17€ or 20$... I spent more on meaningless furniture. At least this one isn't of swedish design 😀

Nexxen wrote on 2021-04-29, 23:09:

Not checking what you write and how. […]
Show full quote

maxtherabbit wrote on 2021-04-29, 22:21:

Nexxen wrote on 2021-04-29, 21:33:

Probably faulty support.

I'll wait for more support.

what does this mean?

Not checking what you write and how.

Faulty disk.
I'll wait for more advice.

bro wtf are you saying?

Nothing I said was faulty

Yeah have many Zip drives and the only issues are bad drive (click of death or blown electronics like a bad HD) or bad media. Old media can go bad from just sitting unused like floppy disks,. Never have just one ZIP disk if you are trying to figure out a drive issue, that is like having one floppy disk when trying to figure out a floppy drive issue... just my opinion ;p

maxtherabbit wrote on 2021-04-30, 00:22:

Nexxen wrote on 2021-04-29, 23:09:

Not checking what you write and how. […]
Show full quote

maxtherabbit wrote on 2021-04-29, 22:21:

what does this mean?

Not checking what you write and how.

Faulty disk.
I'll wait for more advice.

bro wtf are you saying?

Nothing I said was faulty

Not you, I was referring to me 🤣 If I had checked before clicking on submit I would have avoided that silly repetition.
I'm not Yeats.

When in elementary school your teacher has that lesson explaining that even if intelligible you can't repeat too many times the same words?
And punctuation too 😀
She'd be proud of me!!
----

Is it true that a faulty disk can damage a Zip drive?
Too much confusion and I can't get anything sure 100%.

Horun wrote on 2021-04-30, 01:24:

Yeah have many Zip drives and the only issues are bad drive (click of death or blown electronics like a bad HD) or bad media. Old media can go bad from just sitting unused like floppy disks,. Never have just one ZIP disk if you are trying to figure out a drive issue, that is like having one floppy disk when trying to figure out a floppy drive issue... just my opinion ;p

Absolutely right, but retro sickness comes with a not so small amount of anxiety. 😀
I've looked around and possibly I can get 5 disks for 20$ like.

5 disks for $20 is not bad at all.
My experience with the ZIP 100's is mostly good, specially the SCSI and IDE. Had a few ZIP 250's and they, like my Iomega's 1GB JAZZ drives seem to fail at a high rate after very little use.

Got hold of a 250 drive + 32 disks.

It recovered the malfunctioning disk. Has errors but reads and writes ok.

Tested 100 scsi unit, works perfectly ok. Formats and reads, writes.

What is strange is that the 250 can format disks that the 100 can't access (z-tracks error on TIB utility), and make them working again. After test they show "firm" errors and relocated sectors (spare sectors consumed, at low % so not worrying).
If they were "mac formatted" it could still be possible to format them.

Nice. Glad to hear you were able to get a new drive and disks and also get your first one functional as well.

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2021-05-07, 16:25:

Nice. Glad to hear you were able to get a new drive and disks and also get your first one functional as well.

Looks like you had it right! 😉
Now I'm once again top of the tech of '99 😀

It's a hobby but having everything at the top back when all was worth a kidney and both eyes is somewhat rewarding.

Yes it is. I bought a Integra 7.2 surround receiver and a 5.1 Polk audio speakers set off a friend of mine back in December and I now have a great sounding system for rocket launches, TV, and movies. That setup was new in 06 and it's super fantastic. We also got off eBay a used 1080p Epson powerlite projector for 45 bucks and for now just a cheapy screen. And we love it.