ZIP Drive is making my computer really SLOWWWWW !!!! HELP !!!!!

[Krueger81]

I have the external version of the ZIP Drive 100 the original one it hooks to my printer port and whenever I try to access it my computer gets really slowwww.... http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif Is there any thing special I have to do to make it go faster? What about the printer port settings??? ECP or EPP????

best regards,
Krueger81

P.S. I have the MSI 6309 Motherboard and I just got it today http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif and it kicks @$$. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[daveleau]

Do you have any other stuff hooked up through it? I have heard that the ECP setting is best and other settings havce potential problems w/ this zip and printers.
Dave

[Krueger81]

Nope nothing else hooked up just the ZIP to the Printer Port... I'll try ECP... Thanks...

Krueger81

Anyone else?

[UncaDanno]

From what I've experienced, it's just the nature of the beast (parallel port). When Zippy is actively communicating, like givin Exploder directory info or accessing files, it tends to slow things down.

That's why I treat mine like a super floppy. Does that job very well. Try to use it as a mini HD (run apps directly from it) and you'll be disappointed.

[OuTpaTienT]

Buy an internal IDE/ATAPI ZIP. I've seen'em going for under $59. Speed is unbelievably faster.

A good friend of mine has used his parallel external ZIP forever. He even tried to tell me I should get an external ZIP when I bought my internal version. About a week later he was using my system, copied about 75mb to a ZiP disk, and when it took less than a minute you could've heard his jaw hit the ground.

Needless to say, he went out and bought himself an internal Zip...that very same day. hehe.

[LED]

go to your Control Panel...System/Performance/File System/Removeable Disk and make sure that the enabe write behind cache is checked.

[ayuen]

Also make sure you have the latest drivers. I was in the same situation but after I installed the latest drivers, the zip drive speeded up by at least 50%. Still slow mind you, but any improvement is good.

[howste]

Iomega released IomegaWare 2.2.1 just a couple of weeks ago. Get it at http://www.iomega.com/software/

[Krueger81]

ECP wouldn't work.It is still the same speed I enabled the thingy in the Control Panel also to no improvement. I'll try to download the new drivers this afternoon so I can get that fixed, hopefully.

Thanks for the replies,
Krueger81

Anyone else?

[alann]

It seems to happen to most of PCs except those brand names like Dell, IBM etc... I used to hook one up with Dell, IBM, Gateway etc., it was as fast as internal version. With the same Zip drive I brought home, It was running soooo slow. It's only convenient when I transport from one machine to another.

Go to iomega.com, download iomega ware and install on the PC. Run a parallel port acelerate program. It helps a bit.

[OuTpaTienT]

Don't mean to be argumentative or just a jerk, but I'm sorry alann, there's no way any parallel device was even close to the speed of an internally connect IDE device. It's just not physically possible.

If, in your judgement, it was really as fast as an internal ZIP, then whatever internal ZIP you're comparing it to is not connected properly or severely handicapped somehow.

[Krueger81]

Downloaded Iomega Ware and to no improvement. I am going to buy me an Internal one now... http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif

Krueger81

[Butchk]

I have both types of Zip drives internal and extrenal. By far the interial out runs the other. The only reason I bought the external was to be able to zip files from a computer I was repairing. But by far the ide interface is much faster than using the printer port.

Butch

[alann]

I guess you've never tried it on some brand name computers YET! In theory, parallel port's speed is not as fast as IDE, (everyone knows that!) but what I experienced is not bad as I have now with Windows 98 on my machine. Try the Zip with Win 2000, you'd see how fast it is. Believe it or not.

Further, you would have never experienced with parallel harddrives, they are NOT so slow compared to internal IDE. The issue here is not only with the parallel... and my Zip drive is far more reliable than you thought.

I guess you got a picture.

Cheers.

[This message has been edited by alann (edited 03-24-2000).]

[Krueger81]

I found a cheap one for 40$ over at anandtech... But keep them ideas coming I want to fiure it out...

Oh yeah when I have the drive can I hook it up to my UDMA 66 cable or should I run it as a master on the CD-Rom Cable?

Krueger81