README FILE February 19, 1997 Zip Tools Software, Version 5.3 Contents Section # Topic 1 Using the 100MB Zip "tools" Disk 2 Using the Guest Program 3 Software Installation Troubleshooting 4 Electronic Manuals 5 Installing Zip Support on DOS-Only Systems Iomega Driver for DOS Zip Tools under DOS 6 Cautions and Technical Notes Microsoft Disk Copy Utilities FDISK 32-bit Access Windows Format Utility Microsoft Backup Compression Installing Applications to the Zip Drive 7 Pass-Through on the Parallel Port Zip Drive Printers Other Pass-Through Devices 8 Optimizing Parallel Port Zip Drive Transfer Speed Under DOS _________________________________________________________ Section 1 Using the 100MB Zip "tools" Disk The 100MB Zip "tools" disk included with your Zip drive is a special dual-format disk which contains Zip Tools software for BOTH Windows/DOS and Macintosh systems. Before you can write any files to the disk, the disk format must be set as EITHER Windows/DOS (IBM-compatible PC) or Macintosh (which allows you to store your files safely but eliminates the Tools software files stored under the other format type). Running the software Setup program under either Windows 95 or Windows 3.1 automatically sets the "tools" disk format to Windows/DOS and reclaims the Macintosh portion of the disk for use on PC systems. Similarly, running the Zip Install program for Macintosh, sets the "tools" disk format to Macintosh and erases the PC portion of the disk. If you are installing Zip software support on a DOS-only system, you need to run the Reclaim program as described in your Zip Installation Guide to set the disk format and unlock the disk. If you use your Zip drive on both PC and Macintosh systems and want to install Zip Tools on both system types, you need to purchase an additional "tools" disk for installing Zip Tools on your second system. (See your Zip Accessory Guide for ordering information.) NOTE: The Zip "tools" disk can be used to reinstall Zip Tools software on the SAME system type (PC or Macintosh) as the initial installation. It is important to keep the installation files on the "tools" disk in case you ever need to reinstall your Zip Tools software. (For a PC system, the installation files are located under W95Stuff, W31Stuff, WNTStuff, and DOSStuff.) _________________________________________________________ Section 2 Using the Guest Program The Guest program allows you to use a portable Zip drive on another computer without having to permanently install either an Iomega driver or Zip Tools software. There are versions of Guest for Windows 95, Windows 3.1/DOS and Macintosh systems: * For Windows 95, run Guest95 from the Windows/DOS Install diskette. If you encounter any problems, see "Help for Guest95" on the Install diskette. * For Windows 3.1/DOS systems, run GUEST.EXE from the from the Windows/DOS Install diskette. Refer to the GUESTHLP.TXT file on the Install diskette for additional information on using GUEST.EXE with IBM- compatible PC's. * For information on using Guest on Macintosh systems, refer to the GUESTHLP.TXT file on the Windows/DOS Install diskette. NOTE: On Windows 3.1, DOS, or Macintosh systems, running the Guest program provides a temporary driver installation that is removed when the computer is shut down or restarted. Running Guest95 permanently installs the drivers needed to support Iomega hardware under Windows 95. _________________________________________________________ Section 3 Software Installation Troubleshooting Refer to the MANUAL.EXE file on the Windows/DOS Install diskette for software troubleshooting information on computers running Windows 95, Windows 3.1, and DOS. Section 4 in this Readme file contains detailed instructions on accessing MANUAL.EXE. Note for users of Adaptec EZ-SCSI: For information on using Iomega software and Adaptec EZ-SCSI on the same system, refer to "Special Information for Users of Adaptec EZ-SCSI" in Appendix A of MANUAL.EXE. _________________________________________________________ Section 4 Electronic Manuals The Iomega software package for Windows/DOS includes two electronic manuals: * The "Iomega Installation Manual" (MANUAL.EXE) which contains complete installation and problem-solving information for Iomega software under Windows 95, Windows 3.1, and DOS. * The "User's Reference Manual" (REFMAN.EXE) which contains reference information on Iomega SCSI software, including the Iomega Driver, configuration program, and Iomega SCSI Utilities. To access the Installation Manual, insert the Windows/DOS "Install" diskette in a floppy drive (the example below assumes drive A:), go to the DOS prompt, and type: A: MANUAL You can also run the Installation Manual from the Windows File Manager by selecting drive A: and double-clicking on MANUAL.EXE. Under Windows 95, you can access the Installation Manual by double-clicking on the floppy drive in My Computer and then double-clicking on the "Manual" icon. The User's Reference Manual is located in the DOSSTUFF directory on the Zip "tools" disk and installed with the Iomega SCSI software package. Use the following procedure if you want to access the reference manual before installing your software: 1. Insert the "Install" floppy diskette for Windows/DOS into the computer's floppy drive and the 100MB "tools" disk into the Zip drive. 2. Go to the DOS prompt and type: a:guest.exe (Install floppy in drive A) or b:guest.exe (Install floppy in drive B) 3. Note the drive letter Guest assigns to your Zip drive and use it in place of "d:" in the following command line: d:\dosstuff\refman If you install Iomega SCSI software using the INSTALL program, you can access the User's Reference manual from the C:\IOMEGA directory after the software installation is complete. Go to the DOS prompt and type: c: cd \iomega refman _________________________________________________________ Section 5 Installing Zip Support on DOS-Only Systems Many of the application programs included in the Zip Tools software package require Windows 3.1 or Windows 95. If you do not have Windows on your computer, you can still use the Zip drive, but you will not be able to use the Zip Tools software that requires Windows. This section describes the software support for Zip drives available for DOS systems that do not have Windows. ______________________________ Section 5.1 Iomega Driver for DOS Running the INSTALL program from the DOSSTUFF directory on the Zip "tools" disk installs Iomega SCSI software to support your Zip drive. The Iomega SCSI Driver installs as a device (SCSIDRVR.SYS) in the computer's CONFIG.SYS file, and because of the way DOS handles drive letter assignments, this can shift your existing drive letters. Iomega software for Zip includes a TSR version of the Iomega Driver (GUEST.EXE) which will not cause any drive letter shifts when it is installed. If you prefer using the TSR version of the Iomega Driver (GUEST.EXE), you can manually install it in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Refer to the electronic Installation Manual (MANUAL.EXE) for manual installation instructions. MANUAL.EXE also contains information on assigning specific drive letters with GUEST.EXE. (See Section 4 in this file for detailed instructions on accessing the electronic manuals.) ______________________________ Section 5.2 Zip Tools under DOS Iomega SCSI software includes a set of utilities that run under DOS. You can use these utilities to set software protection options on your Zip disks, copy data to or from Zip disks, format Zip disks, or lock the Zip drive so that you can install software to a Zip disk. You can run the Utilities in an easy-to-use menu mode or from the DOS command line. To start the utilities in menu mode, go to the DOS prompt for drive C: (the drive where your Iomega SCSI software is installed) and type: cd \IOMEGA SCSIUTIL If you need help running the Utilities, press anywhere in the Utilities. Complete reference information on the Iomega SCSI Utilities is contained in the electronic "User's Reference Manual" (REFMAN.EXE). (See Section 4 in this file for information on accessing the electronic manuals.) _________________________________________________________ Section 6 Cautions and Technical Notes ______________________________ Section 6.1 Microsoft Disk Copy Utilities CAUTION! Do NOT use DISKCOPY.EXE or the Windows 95 right mouse CopyDisk utility with your Zip drive. These utilities were designed for use with floppy drives and do not work correctly with other removable drives. Use an Iomega disk copying utility to copy disks (either Copy Machine or Iomega SCSI Disk Copy). ______________________________ Section 6.2 FDISK CAUTION! Do not use FDISK on any removable disk. FDISK is designed for partitioning fixed disks. Partitioning any type of removable media can lead to unexpected results. ______________________________ Section 6.3 32-bit Access If you are using Windows 3.11 or Windows for Workgroups and want to use Copy Machine, make sure that 32-bit disk and file access is turned off. (This option is available when changing virtual memory options under "386 Enhanced" in the Windows Control Panel.) NOTE: Windows 3.1 does not support 32-bit access for removable disks drives. If 32-bit access is not turned off, the hard drive will NOT appear in the Copy Machine window. ______________________________ Section 6.4 Windows Format Utility If you are using Windows 3.1, do not use the format utility available in Windows File Manager to format Zip disks. Use an Iomega format utility (either Iomega SCSI Format or Format in Iomega Tools). ______________________________ Section 6.5 Microsoft Backup Microsoft Backup does not support removable disk drives other than floppy drives. You can use Copy Machine to copy files on your hard disk to the Zip drive, or you can use the Windows File Manager to drag-and-drop files you want to back up to Zip disks. ______________________________ Section 6.6 Compression CAUTION! If you are using a compression utility on a removable disk (for example, a Zip disk), you should make that disk nonremovable (or lock the disk in the drive) whenever the compressed volume is mounted. Removing a disk while the compressed volume is mounted could result in lost data. To remove the disk, first unmount the compressed volume, then unlock the drive. Refer to the electronic "User's Reference Manual" (REFMAN.EXE) for detailed information on locking and unlocking drives. CAUTION! Do not use any disk compression software to compress removable boot disks. Iomega SCSI Utilities with Stacker 4.0 When using Stacker 4.0 and Iomega SCSI, mounted, stacked drives will not appear on the graphical user interface screen for the Iomega SCSI Utilities. In order to use an Iomega SCSI utility on a stacked drive, you must first unmount the drive. ______________________________ Section 6.7 Installing Applications to the Zip Drive Certain applications and games will install only to a fixed disk. To install these programs to the Zip drive, use the Iomega Tools "Make Nonremovable" or "Lock" utility to make the Zip drive appear as a hard drive to the system. After the software installation is complete, use "Make Removable" or "Unlock" to restore disk removability. _________________________________________________________ Section 7 Pass-Through on the Parallel Port Zip Drive This section describes how to handle problems you may encounter when connecting printers or other parallel port devices to the pass-through connector on the Zip drive. ______________________________ Section 7.1 Printers The parallel port Zip drive supports most printers on the pass-through connector; however, some printers require exclusive use of the parallel port and will not work correctly when connected to the Zip pass-through. Because these printers cannot share the parallel port, your system may stop responding if you attempt to use the printer and your Zip drive at the same time (for example, if you attempt to print a file from a Zip disk). If you are having problems with your printer when it is connected to the Zip pass-through connector, try the following: * Try powering on your computer, printer, and Zip drive all at the same time by plugging them into the same power strip and applying power at the power strip. * If you are using Windows 3.1, disable Disk Watch by removing it from your Windows Startup folder and then restarting Windows. Disk Watch periodically wakes up the Zip drive and checks its status, which temporarily disables the Zip pass-through. * Some Print Cache programs may conflict with the parallel port Zip drive. If you have Print Cache on your system, disable the audio warning messages for both Windows and DOS using the reinstall procedure in the Print Cache manual. (If you encounter problems reinstalling, please contact your Print Cache Software Technical Support.) * If you have Microsoft Print System installed on your computer, try using it to disable bi-directional communication to the printer. (Remove the check mark from the box next to "Use bi-directional communication.") * Try setting your printer to "Print to File" whenever it's not in use. This will enable you to use your Zip drive without problems as long as you are not printing. When you want to print a file from your hard disk (or any disk other than a Zip disk), close any files that may be open on your Zip disk and return the printer setting to normal. Do not attempt to access your Zip drive until the print job is completed and you have changed the printer setting back to "Print to File." If you are unable to use your printer and the Zip drive at the same time, the best solution is to add an additional parallel port to your computer, then use the Zip drive on one parallel port and your printer on the other. Most computer stores carry simple I/O cards that let you easily add a new parallel port. Warp Nine Engineering (formerly FarPoint Communications) produces an I/O card, F/PortPlus, which is fully compatible with the Zip drive and will improve your drive's performance. (Information on this card is available from Iomega's Automated FAX Help system at (801)778-5763, or you can contact Warp Nine Engineering at http://www.fapo.com.) Contact your computer dealer if you wish to purchase a card. ______________________________ Section 7.2 Other parallel port devices Parallel port devices other than printers may or may not work on the Zip pass-through connector. This problem exists because computer parallel ports were not originally designed for devices other than printers. If you try placing a device other than a printer on the Zip pass-through, or place the Zip drive on another device's pass-through, there are no guarantees that it will work correctly. In the future there will be a standard for daisy-chaining devices on the parallel port; when this standard is implemented, Iomega will also conform to it. In the mean time, try the suggestions listed under Section 7.1 for solving printer problems. If your parallel port devices still do not operate correctly on the Zip pass-through connector, or the Zip drive does not operate correctly on their pass-through, you may want to think about adding an extra parallel port to your computer as described in Section 7.1. _________________________________________________________ Section 8 Optimizing Parallel Port Zip Drive Transfer Speed under DOS The parallel port model of the Zip drive supports three modes of data transfer which have different transfer speeds. To ensure the broadest base of compatibility for the Zip drive, the Iomega installation software for DOS automatically uses the most compatible, but slowest, transfer mode. In this mode, the transfer speed for the Zip drive is about 2MB to 6MB per minute, depending on the computer's processor speed. If the computer has a bi-directional parallel port, the Zip drive can be set to use a mode which provides data transfer speeds of 6MB to 17MB per minute, depending on the computer's processor speed. (If you are not sure whether your computer has a bi-directional parallel port, refer to the owner's manual that came with your computer.) The fastest mode supported by the Zip drive requires a special "Enhanced Parallel Port" (EPP) chip set to be present on the host computer. In this mode, the data transfer speed for the Zip drive is about 17MB to 22MB per minute, depending on the computer's processor speed. Because of the variety of EPP chip sets, and because there are some chip sets that mimic a true EPP chip but do not support EPP transfers, not all systems with "EPP" can support this mode for the Zip drive. Iomega software for Zip includes a parallel port accelerator that can automatically set up both your computer and your Iomega software to use the fastest transfer mode for the Zip drive that is supported by your computer hardware. Under Windows 95, you can run the parallel port accelerator by double-clicking on the icon in the Iomega Tools folder on your Start Programs menu. For Windows 3.1, double click on the "Parallel Port Accelerator" icon in your Iomega Zip Tools Windows group. Under DOS, run the OPTPPM1.EXE utility as follows: Step 1: If you have not already done so, install your Zip software package following the instructions in step 10 of the Zip Installation Guide. Step 2: Go to the DOS prompt for drive C: and type: cd \iomega optppm1 NOTE: If you wish to restore the default settings on your system, run "OPTPPM1.EXE /NIBBLE" from the DOS prompt. (This works under Windows 3.1 as well as DOS.)