I have a rather convoluted problem but I am sure some of the experts here can help. I have 2 old Windows95 computers with parallel Zip drives attached. I have about 100 Zip Disks of data. There is also data on the old computers. I am currently running Windows7 on both my desktop and laptop. I need to get some of the data off of the zip disks and computer then wipe them clean to be gotten rid of. Here is the rub - the Windows 95 computers have no CD Burner only a reader, they has USB ports but the version of Win95 had no support for external jump or flash drives. Neither of my present computers has a parallel port. I bought a USB to Parallel adapter and it fits but the computer will not recognize the Zip Drive. I do have the original CD’s with software from Iomega that I got with the Zip Drive. Is there any way you can think of that I could take data off the Win95 machines and get it to the Win7? I can transfer from the Zip disks to the hard drive of the Win95 machines but that is as far as I can get. The old machine have no network adapter either. If there were a way to go usb to usb with a cable between the machines. I could move data to the hard drive of the Win95 machines from the Zip drive and then move it to the Win7 machines. I was a teacher/wrestling coach for many years and there is info about students and some of their work on the Zip disks that I need to erase completely, but there are also old photos of wrestling matches, etc. that I would like to hang onto for a website that exists for our team. Once I pull the data I want to keep I will format then overwrite the Zip disks and get rid of them - same with the Win95 computers. I hope someone has an answer. I am not very hardware savvy so moving a hard drive from one machine to another which is all I can think of is not the best option for me. I think maybe they are formatted differently anyway from what I can read.
Thanks in advance -
Jim in WV

[m0o5]

You could ask around if any friends or neighbors still have a running 98se or xp system, so you can use it to transfer the files from the zips to a USB pen drive or external hard disk.

Or buy a (used) USB Zip drive .. I read they work : http://www.w7forums.com/threads/iomega-zip-or-jazz-drive-in-windows-7.1217/

Another option is to get a SATA and IDE HDD combo docking station. (Connects through USB.) They're not all that expensive. Make sure it works with IDE HDD's though. The file system of the old hard disks is most likely FAT32, so that should be no problem.

Thanks, that sounds like a plan - much better than thousands of swaps on 3 1/2 " floppies which was all I could come up with. It would be so easy if I could just connect the machines via USB . . . Oh well.