I haven't done this before, but I think it should work at least for the physical part.
That USB plug to mobo pin header adapter should work just fine wth USB 1.x/ 2.0 devices.
But I seriously don't know about the ZIP drive+IDE/USB thing. The ZIP drive may or may not be using the IDE/ATAPI language.
So it's up to the adapter to support it or not. Sorry, I only have got an old ZIP100 USB drive. 🙁

Jo22 wrote:

I haven't done this before, but I think it should work at least for the physical part. That USB plug to mobo pin header adapter […]
Show full quote

I haven't done this before, but I think it should work at least for the physical part.
That USB plug to mobo pin header adapter should work just fine wth USB 1.x/ 2.0 devices.
But I seriously don't know about the ZIP drive+IDE/USB thing. The ZIP drive may or may not be using the IDE/ATAPI language.
So it's up to the adapter to support it or not. Sorry, I only have got an old ZIP100 USB drive. 🙁

"That USB plug to mobo pin header adapter should work just fine wth USB 1.x/ 2.0 devices."

That's good to hear, and USB 1.1 is plenty of speed for use with the slow in comparison ZIP drive.

"The ZIP drive may or may not be using the IDE/ATAPI language."

How could it not when the drive in question IS an IDE/ATA based drive?

"So it's up to the adapter to support it or not. Sorry, I only have got an old ZIP100 USB drive."

Best to my knowledge, the ZIP 100 and 250 drives are mostly the same. Only differences are the 250 supports the higher capacity, and can still read the 100MB disks, but at a slower speed.

computergeek92 wrote:

Jo22 wrote:

I haven't done this before, but I think it should work at least for the physical part. That USB plug to mobo pin header adapter […]
Show full quote

I haven't done this before, but I think it should work at least for the physical part.
That USB plug to mobo pin header adapter should work just fine wth USB 1.x/ 2.0 devices.
But I seriously don't know about the ZIP drive+IDE/USB thing. The ZIP drive may or may not be using the IDE/ATAPI language.
So it's up to the adapter to support it or not. Sorry, I only have got an old ZIP100 USB drive. 🙁

"That USB plug to mobo pin header adapter should work just fine wth USB 1.x/ 2.0 devices."

That's good to hear, and USB 1.1 is plenty of speed for use with the slow in comparison ZIP drive.

Yup, it is. USB 3.0 has a larger header I think. 😀

computergeek92 wrote:

"The ZIP drive may or may not be using the IDE/ATAPI language."

How could it not when the drive in question IS an IDE/ATA based drive?

IDE can also be used like a tiny version of the ISA bus (ATA= AT attached. "AT-BUS" was the name of the IBM-PC/AT slot before it was standardized and became ISA).
Back in time, people also attached EPROM programmers to IDE. Such software directly wrote data to port adress 0x170 (for example).
In theory, someone could also hook up a scanner or a tape streamer to IDE. As far as I know, there were even tiny 3.5" streamers for the floppy port.

Yes, there were Colorado (later HP) backup units (QIC, Travan, etc) that connected to floppy controller (mine were always 5.25" though).

CG92: In another post you said you will go for the USB ZIP instead of the SCSI one. Which OS will you be utilizing with this drive? SCSI will be accessible from DOS, but USB /IDE converted one will not. It might be "pointing the obvious", but just in case... 😊

tayyare wrote:

Yes, there were Colorado (later HP) backup units (QIC, Travan, etc) that connected to floppy controller (mine were always 5.25" though).

CG92: In another post you said you will go for the USB ZIP instead of the SCSI one. Which OS will you be utilizing with this drive? SCSI will be accessible from DOS, but USB /IDE converted one will not. It might be "pointing the obvious", but just in case... 😊

Thanks for asking. I'm currently weighing out my options, finding the cheapest and easiest way of doing this. I plan on using the drive for my upcoming server running either Windows Server 2000 or 2003, maybe Server 2008... That is if my single or dual Pentium III 1.4GHz with 4GB or 6GB suffices.