Dreaded click of death is enough to drive you crazy

When STEVE HART had a problem with a faulty Zip drive, he had to go around the world to sort it out.

Meandering down the hallway one chilly morning in early 1999, I couldn't help noticing a clicking sound coming from what I laughingly called the office.

It was my external Iomega Zip drive - a device that uses floppy disks to store large amounts of data. I had used the drive with my Apple Mac for less than two years and knew the sound wasn't good news. I had been caught by a design fault in some models of Iomega Zip drives known as the "click of death."

I called the Iomega help desk. There a woman listened to the clicking sound down the phone and offered me a replacement. Great.

Days later it arrived. I installed it and slotted in one of my disks. Click, click, click it went.

I called the help desk and another woman listened to my new Zip drive.

"Have you bought new disks?"

No. Why?

"Because your last drive will have damaged any that were put into it. We don't replace disks but I'll send you a new drive."

A few days later it arrived, I plugged it in and before I could even start the computer up the drive began to click.

Hello, it's me again, I told the Iomega help desk woman. This second new drive clicks even before I started the computer.

"We'll send you a new drive."

Drive number three arrived and I installed it. I held my breath as I started up the computer. I reached for a brand new, factory-sealed disk, peeled off its wrapper, opened the case and gently inserted the disk into the drive. I pressed it home and waited for the disk's icon to appear on the desktop.

Click, click, click.

Months had passed and by this time I was preparing to move to New Zealand. I returned the replacement drives while holding on to my original one, which I brought with me.

Once settled in Auckland, I dialled the local number for Iomega, which connected me with its Singapore office.

There, a woman asked all the normal questions and I explained all about my past life with the drive.

"I'll send you a replacement."

Can I trade up to an Iomega CD writer? "No."

Three drives later and I was ready to give up ever having a working Zip drive. And to make matters worse, the woman who was helping me now ignored my e-mails.

I went to Iomega's web site and, although my job has nothing to do with ordering computer equipment, I said unless I got some action I would not specify any further purchases of Iomega equipment.

The next day I got a call from a technician who couldn't do enough for me.

A new drive arrived and he offered to replace all my 30 Zip disks if I sent my old ones to Iomega. After all, I had no idea which ones may have been damaged by previous drives.

But things had changed. Although some drives from my new-found friend didn't click, none of them was recognised by the Mac. As far as the Mac was concerned, it didn't have a Zip drive connected.

Then I started looking at the MacFixIt hardware site, where I posted my problem hoping for help.

All the usual suggestions came forth about my possibly having a faulty Mac, faulty cable, software conflicts, etc. All of which I had triple-checked.

Then one bright spark out in cyberspace said he had overcome the recognition problem with a new power supply (he had an external CD writer).

Good thought - it's the only thing that hasn't been changed.

"No, it won't be a power supply problem," said the guy at Iomega.

"I'll send you another drive. I'll test it here before I despatch it."

I think it was the sixth drive to arrive and - surprise, surprise - it was not recognised by the Mac. This was followed by a new cable and an Iomega software update CD - and another new drive.

I e-mailed him with a plea for a power supply. Next day his reply arrived confirming it was in the post.

It arrived, I plugged it in, connected the Zip drive and booted up the Mac. I put in a disk and eureka! It worked. So I now have a working Zip drive. I also have 30 blank disks - all my archive files have gone forever. If only I could have tried a new power supply before I sent my "damaged" disks back.


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