Can you plug a SCSI divice into parallel?

edited May 2016 in Hardware
Yes, I know this sounds stupid, but I want to know

Would there be anyway to plug a SCSI Zip drive into a parallel port and have it work

Because I don't have have any SCSI cards and I want to use it.

Comments

  • I seem to recall discussion on the Vintage Computing Forums that someone had once a long time ago produced a parallel to SCSI bridge device. But those would be extremely rare these days.

    But if you mean directly, no. Very different wiring and interface.

    Your best bet is either to obtain a Parallel Port Zip drive (not too uncommon, I picked one up at a garage sale the other day), or obtain a SCSI card (if you are patient, a cheap one with the right adapter should eventually come up on eBay.

    I've got to say, the SCSI Zip drives were very nice. They were much faster than the parallel port version.
  • Iomega also brought out a dual format SCSI/Parallel Zip drive - the Zip Plus. It had the bridging circuit inside. The parallel port on the rear left of the drive autodetected whether it was connected to the parallel port of the computer or a scsi port. It also had a parallel pass-through port for printers and the like.

    Zip drives, particularly the Plus, are still sought after. The cheapest solution would be to get a used basic scsi card from eBay.
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