Are my cartidges all aged out?
I had a disk in the drive for years.. then I tried to see what's on it
and it doesn't
want to read it. How bad is the problem? Will it just wake up with a
little use?

Twelve years is pretty good for a ZIP disk. Of course, it should have
been removed from the drive and stored in its neat, plastic box when
not in use. Magnetic media and the substrate do deteriorate when exposed
to the elements. If the information on the disk is important, consider
using a professional recovery outfit.

Win3.11wg says there is no disk in the drive.

When the machine starts up it sometimes keep clicking to find the disk.

I think last time I used the IDE ZIP was 2yrs ago.

I saw a reply on groups.google, but from this server it doesn't show.

In <d2983cbd-f46d-4178-9b09-3b066ca96...@z17g2000hsg.googlegroups.com>
  by Vasos Panagiotopoulos <vasjp...@gmail.com> on Fri, 1 Feb 2008
  10:25:00 -0800 (PST) we perused:

*+-Are my cartidges all aged out?
*+-I had a disk in the drive for years.. then I tried to see what's on it
*+-and it doesn't
*+-want to read it. How bad is the problem? Will it just wake up with a
*+-little use?

                                    - = -
 Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
           http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/vjp2/vasos.htm
  ---{Nothing herein constitutes advice.  Everything fully disclaimed.}---
   [Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
 [Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Remorse begets zeal] [Windows is for Bimbos]

I'm wondering if I installed some software that upset the zip?

AGain, I find replies on groups.google that don't appear on panix.com

                                    - = -
 Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
           http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/vjp2/vasos.htm
  ---{Nothing herein constitutes advice.  Everything fully disclaimed.}---
   [Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
 [Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Remorse begets zeal] [Windows is for Bimbos]

I poked around the net and saw refs tot he "clicking noise" I hear as
if it is trying to register.connect witht he Zip disk. I tried box new
disks just now and it doesn't work.  Any troubleshooting tips?
Obviously I am way past warranty (Gateway).

                                    - = -
 Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
           http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/vjp2/vasos.htm
  ---{Nothing herein constitutes advice.  Everything fully disclaimed.}---
   [Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
 [Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Remorse begets zeal] [Windows is for Bimbos]

I ran GRC/TIP and got "Z track failure" on all my disks.

                                    - = -
 Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
           http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/vjp2/vasos.htm
  ---{Nothing herein constitutes advice.  Everything fully disclaimed.}---
   [Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
 [Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Remorse begets zeal] [Windows is for Bimbos]