Feature

Richard Spowart informs us that these popular drives can be used with the 
Atari ...

Some of you will be familiar with the Iomega Zip 100 removable hard 
drives, that have been available for use on the PC or Macintosh. However, 
Atari computers can also make use of the Zip drive as well, with a little 
bit of know-how.

For those of you who would rather buy the Zip complete with everything, 
you can obtain the drive, together with the necessary leads from Hisoft. 
There is, however, a slightly cheaper way of going about this, which does 
mean that you can take advantage of the good prices on basic Zip drives as 
found in PC magazines.

The only model of Zip drive that will work with Atari computers is the 
SCSI external version. These can be found priced at £149.00 including VAT 
from stores such as PC World, but do shop around to find the best deal. 
Don't make the mistake of buying the parallel version as this will not 
work with your computer, and could possibly damage it if connected 
wrongly.

It is probably best that you already have an external SCSI hard disk 
connected to your computer such as the MiniS series as supplied by System 
Solutions. These come with twin Centronics type ports on the back where 
additional SCSI drives can be connected to, should you purchase another 
hard disk in the future.

You will need to purchase a Centronics 50-way lead to 25-way DIN lead. 
These are available again at dealers such as PC World for around £12.00, 
but again do shop around for the best deal, as prices can vary from 
distributor to distributor.

You will also need to purchase a Zip "disk". These can hold up to around 
98 MB of data, which is ideal for storage purposes. These retail for 
around œ14.00 normally, but it is worth again shopping around for the best 
deal. Zip disks are available singly and in packs of three, six and 
twelve. A three-pack should cost around œ39.95, with the six-pack costing 
œ79.95 and the twelve-pack costing a whopping œ129.95. They all come with 
a full guarantee as standard.

Connecting your Zip drive to your computer is relatively straightforward 
if you already have an external hard drive, by simply plugging one end of 
the lead into the Centronics port on your existing hard drive, and the 
25-way DIN into the SCSI port to the left of the back of the Zip. The 
power supply plugs in as normal through the power port and fitting the 
plug into a standard 4-gang mains adaptor.

In order to use the Zip, you will need to have a piece of software called 
a "driver". If you already have the ICD Link utilities (these come with 
some Atari SCSI interfaces) then you should be fine, otherwise you will 
need to purchase a copy of HDDriver v6.0 from System Solutions. AHDI does 
work fine with the Zip, but it will need configuring with a program called 
AHDICONF.PRG to enable it to cope with the missing SCSI ID numbers. For 
those of you who find this too technical, a copy of HD Driver v6.0 is 
recommended.

AHDI, ICD Link and HD Driver all have programs to format hard drives, 
including the Zip, but do take care before you use this that you are not 
going to overwrite anything important.

If you wish to see the Zip drive in action, why not pop along to the next 
meeting of your local Atari user club ? Some members of the Wessex Atari 
Group have been using their Zip drives for some time and have been very 
impressed.

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Manufacturer: Iomega Systems
Available from: Everywhere
Rating: 95%
Pros: Compact, quiet unit, easy to use
Cons: Disks can be expensive