The Tools application and the Iomega Drive Options control panel provide a package of utilities for your removable drives and disks.
Tools application
Erase Disk
This tool allows you to prepare the disk in the selected drive, either with Erase Disk or Erase Disk with Surface Verify (useful for disks that show read/write problems).
Change Disk Protection
This tool enables software protection for the disk in the selected drive.
Set Drive Options
This tool allows you to change the automatic drive sleep time for the selected drive or turn write verification on or off.
Eject Disk
This option automatically releases and ejects the disk in the selected drive.
Erase or Initialize Disk
Erase or Initialize Disk in the Tools application is similar to Erase Disk under the Finder, but it offers features not available under the Finder. Erase or Initialize Disk provides two format options: a quick Erase Disk and a longer Erase Disk with Surface Verify (useful for repairing a disk that has developed read/write errors). Erase or Initialize Disk also may allow you to switch to other applications while the disk is formatting.
NOTE: If you are using PC Exchange and you want to change a PC-formatted disk to a Macintosh format, you must use Erase or Initialize Disk in the Tools application. PC Exchange will not allow the format to be changed when using the Finder.
CAUTION: All of the information on a disk is lost when a disk is erased. Make sure that any information you may need from a disk has been copied before you erase the disk.
Erase or Initialize Disk offers two erase options:
- Erase Disk allows you to quickly erase or prepare a disk for new data. Using this option is just like using the Erase Disk command in the Finder. No surface verify is performed with Erase Disk. This option is very fast but should not be used on disks that are having problems or that may have bad sectors.
- Erase Disk with Surface Verify (also called a low-level format) performs a complete surface verify on the disk as it is erased. The surface verify checks each sector and replaces bad sectors with spare sectors. It also restores the pool of spare sectors available for use during read/write operations. Erase Disk with Surface Verify may take up to 20 minutes to complete on a 100 MB Zip disk.
This option should be used for all disks that have developed read/write errors. When you are repairing a disk, make sure you copy any information you need from the disk to another disk before erasing the disk.
Change Disk Protection
Change Disk Protection allows you to set protection options for the disk in a selected drive. Whenever you set a disk protection option, you need to close any open files and quit all applications running from the disk. If you want to set disk protection for a shared disk, you must first turn off sharing. Once the disk is protected, you can turn sharing back on.
Note: Although Zip disk protection options are set and removed using the Tools program, the actual protection mechanism is secured in the drive hardware. Because Iomega disk protection is not software-based, it cannot be bypassed using other software programs.
Change Disk Protection offers options that replace and augment the functionality of a conventional write-protect tab:
- You can Write Protect a Zip disk to prevent anyone from overwriting critical data. When a disk is write-protected, no one can write files to the disk until it is unprotected. If desired, you can assign a password which must be used to unprotect the disk. If you forget the password, the data can be recovered by simply copying it to another disk (using the Finder). Use Erase Disk with Surface Verify to reclaim the disk for reuse.
- You can Read/Write Protect a Zip disk to protect highly sensitive data. When you use this option, no one can read files from the disk or write files to the disk until it is unprotected using the password you assign. Caution: If you forget the password, the data on the disk cannot be recovered (even by Iomega). In order to use the disk again, you will have to reformat it using Erase Disk with Surface Verify.
Temporarily Unprotect
This option gives you temporary access to a protected disk. If a password was assigned when the disk was protected, you must enter the password to use this option. When you temporarily unprotect a write-protected disk, it will be automatically write-protected again when ejected.
CAUTION: If you temporarily unprotect a read/write-protected disk, you must restart your computer to restore protection.
Remove Protection
This option completely removes either write protection or read/write protection. If a password was assigned when the disk was protected, it will be required when you select this option.
Change Password
This option allows you to update or vary the password assigned to a protected disk. In order to change the password, you must first enter the current password for the disk. You will need to verify the new password by retyping it.
Iomega Drive Options Control Panel
Verify disk writes
Activates an additional data protection feature. When this option is set, the drive will take extra steps to make sure that everything it writes to any disk used in the drive is written correctly. You may want to select "No" to potentially increase performance of the drive.
Eject disk at Shutdown
When selected, this option causes the Zip disk to be ejected anytime you shut down your computer. If you do not want your disk ejected when you shut down, simply deselect this option.
Eject disk at Restart
When selected, tthis option causes the Zip disk to be ejected anytime you start up your computer. If you do not want your disk ejected when you start up, simply deselect this option.
Drive sleep in ... [ ] Minutes
This option specifies the amount of time a drive must be inactive before the disk automatically spins down. If you don not change the sleep time setting, a Zip drive will automatically spin down the disk after 15 minutes of inactivity. If desired, you can change the period of inactivity before drive sleep occurs from a minimum of 1 minute to a maximum of 60 minutes.
Factory Settings
Returns the control panel options to their factory settings.
Don't Save
Exits the Control Panel without implementing any changes you have made to your settings. Pressing the ESC key does the same thing.
Save
Exits the Control Panel and implements any changes you have made to your settings. Pressing the RETURN or ENTER keys will do the same thing.
Advanced Drive Options
The Advanced Driver Options Control Panel allows you to:
- Specify how your Iomega Zip disks will be updated to newer versions of the Iomega Driver.
- Specify whether or not the Iomega driver extension icon appears during your computer's startup. By default the Iomega driver icon does NOT appear. If you want to be sure that the driver is loading properly, simply click on the box on the Advanced Drive Options screen and click "OK." The Driver icon will then appear the next time you start your computer.
Tools Menu Button
NOTE: If the Iomega Drive Options control panel is in the Control Panels folder, it will appear when you press the Set Drive Options button on the Tools menu.If you delete the Control Panel or move it to a different location, for example the (Disabled) folder, the following options will appear (see above for descriptions):
* Write with Verify
* Drive Sleep Time
* Eject Disk: Eject Disk automatically ejects the disk in a selected drive, and works the same as dragging the disk to the Trash icon in Finder. Use Eject Disk when you want to set disk protection options on more than one disk or erase more than one disk in a single session.
If an application or file on the disk is open, the disk cannot be ejected. Close files and quit any open applications, then drag the disk icon to the Trash icon or return to the Tools application and use the Eject Disk button again.
Note: This information was taken directly from the online Tools Online manual, which was included with your computer.
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