Fixed: Microtech HD25 or HD50 USB SCSI now working on Win XP

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September 19th, 2007, 02:23 AM
Strat96

Fixed: Microtech HD25 or HD50 USB SCSI now working on Win XP

I have searched and searched for the driver or fix for this problem and haven't been able to find it on the internet. Luckily persistence pays off!

The problem is the newest driver Microtech released was for 98 and 2000. Neither of these drivers install on XP, and for the longest time I've had to transfer files on my older computer and then copy them to an external USB hard drive to put them on my XP computer.

To get it to work on XP, this is just by luck of screwing around, I did the following:

1. I downloaded the Win 2000 driver and unpacked and ran set up.
2. Computer reboots
3. Turned on the Iomega Jaz Drive and nothing happens...Shut it off
4. I right clicked C:\Program Files\Microtech International\USB-SCSI\Emiscsi.inf and clicked install
5. I turned on the Iomega Jaz Drive and then the cable lights up and Windows detects it, then it detects "USB Mass Storage Controller" -- which is the problem.
6. An error occurs with the USB Mass Storage Controller

I tried uninstalling and disabling the USB Mass Storage Controller and without it the cable is not lit up.

So....

7. I right click on "My Computer" and Click on "Hardware" Tab and then click on "Device Manager"
8. This brings up a window with all the installed drivers that are running
9. Go down to "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" (make sure the View menu at the top is selected to Devices By Type).
10. You should see the "USB Mass Storage Controller" with a yellow sign on it.
11. Double Click or Right Click and hit properties
12. Click on the "Driver" tab
13. Click "Update Driver"
14. Select "No" to letting Windows Automatically Search, do the search manual
15. Click "Install from a specific location"
16. Click "Don't Search, I will choose the driver to Install"
17. Click "eUSB SCSI HD50" or HD25

Your done.

Now if the eUSB doesn't come up, try to find the file manually. It should be in both C:\Program Files\Microtech International\USB-SCSI\EUSBSCSI.SYS and C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\EUSBSCSI.SYS

Also note Windows will say the device is not digitally signed - You will have to proceed to have it work.

I hope these instructions helps someone, I know people have purchased these on e-bay and other people have updated their systems and find they can't use it anymore. Maybe everyone has replaced them but me :-)

If anyone can simplify the steps, please do so. I'll try to check back to answer any questions if anyone trys this out.
September 19th, 2007, 05:48 AM
NooNoo

Welcome to Windrivers Strat96 and thanks for the info!
October 19th, 2007, 02:51 PM
wardmd

So where's the driver?

Thanks for the info - I bought one of these adapters before I saw all the "it doesn't work" posts...

So, where can one find the driver for Windows 2000?

Thanks,
October 19th, 2007, 03:28 PM
CCT

Try Google using " Microtech HD50 USB SCSI ".

gl

:)
October 19th, 2007, 05:18 PM
wardmd

Found it

Thanks.

I located the driver download at: http://members.driverguide.com/drive...riverid=124900

The problem I had getting this, though, was their first checkbox "Download this file by viewing a series of ads (no registration required)" leads (after the promised "series of ads") to 404 NOT FOUND...

After registering, the same link (but using "Download this file by logging in with your existing account" results in an actual file)...

Just in case anyone else is foolish enough to BELIEVE their promise... Save yourself the trouble...
October 19th, 2007, 09:01 PM
Platypus

Welcome to WinDrivers, wardmd.

If you try CCT's suggested Google search without any quotes, you'll get a lot of results. Since the Microtech company that produced the adaptors no longer exists, seems the only source for drivers is ones people have uploaded to archive sites. These generally are what they claim to be, just use normal caution as for anything you download, it's possible someone could have (intentionally or unwittingly) included a faulty or infected file.
September 8th, 2010, 12:34 PM
Strat96

HD-50/25 now works on Windows 7 Pro/Ultimate

This is not a native approach but it is an easy work-around.

Win 7 Pro/Ultimate have built-in XP mode, it's easy to set up and very convenient.

All you need to do is follow the steps above in XP Mode, the driver is a little hard to find I had to use "-driverguide" in my search to ease my results.

A few months after my initial post my computer crashed, so I got a new one with Vista and have had that OS until now. This is the first time I've been able to use my USB SCSI on this computer in long time, I am so happy.

Any questions I will try to come on here and answer, I never got notified of the posts that everyone posted, I'll try to fix that on my settings on here and see if I can get e-mailed about posts.
August 3rd, 2011, 02:10 PM
jeff1

Microtech usb to scsi adapter

If you could e-mail me the drivers I would be most appreciative. The drivers I had did not seem to have the same inf file you mentioned in your post.
Thank you,
j
September 15th, 2011, 04:06 PM
CoolObserver

I know this is 5 years later but thank you so much. I really needed to access this drive and I could see it. I had to do a VirtualBox machine running windows xp because there was nothing for windows 7 (but I will try to see if I can get it to work anyway). But this saved me so much. I used this to access a Pinnacle Micro Apex 4.6 gb Scsi drive using the Microtech USB to SCSI adpater. Again thank you so much.

I found the drivers fine and I kept thinking I needed the driver for the Apex, but other comments on various forums said that windows should find it as a drive if the Apex was set to Direct Access, which it is. I even went and purchased a scsi terminator because I did not have one, even tho the drive worked fine without it before. What a relief, and, POOF! just like that I did what you said the the drive showed up in my VBox Xp machine as well as the host Win7 machine.
September 15th, 2011, 11:12 PM
Strat96

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolObserver

I know this is 5 years later but thank you so much. I really needed to access this drive and I could see it. I had to do a VirtualBox machine running windows xp because there was nothing for windows 7 (but I will try to see if I can get it to work anyway). But this saved me so much. I used this to access a Pinnacle Micro Apex 4.6 gb Scsi drive using the Microtech USB to SCSI adpater. Again thank you so much.

I found the drivers fine and I kept thinking I needed the driver for the Apex, but other comments on various forums said that windows should find it as a drive if the Apex was set to Direct Access, which it is. I even went and purchased a scsi terminator because I did not have one, even tho the drive worked fine without it before. What a relief, and, POOF! just like that I did what you said the the drive showed up in my VBox Xp machine as well as the host Win7 machine.

Glad this was able to help! :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeff1

If you could e-mail me the drivers I would be most appreciative. The drivers I had did not seem to have the same inf file you mentioned in your post.
Thank you,
j

Hey Jeff, sorry I didn't see that you posted until today. If you still need the drivers just PM me your email.
February 15th, 2017, 12:30 AM
MrCreosote

A stale thread for a "stale" product (!)

I have a Microtech XpressSCSI USB-SCSI-HD50 that I am trying to see if it works. I have an Iomega ZIP 100 Plus and a DB25 - HD50 adapter which allows me to connect to the Microtech (the ZIP has a DB25 SCSI connector.)

I have Windows XP, VISTA, 7 and 10 on different PCs.

FIRST QUESTION: Without any drivers installed, when I plug the Microtech USB connector into a Windows PC, should I get the PnP "Device Inserted Sound" and then the "Unknown Device" balloon? Or should absolutely nothing happen? (Obviously, the Microtech LED does not light up either - but that seems to happen ONLY when it is actually working.)

IF Absolutely Nothing, SECOND QUESTION: Will it work with the ZIP 100 Plus? (there is so little information about this cable, but I seem to recall people saying it doesn't work with Zip drives but does work with JAZ drives.
February 15th, 2017, 07:18 AM
Zonie

COLOR="#0000FF"]FIRST QUESTION: Without any drivers installed, when I plug the Microtech USB connector into a Windows PC, should I get the PnP "Device Inserted Sound" and then the "Unknown Device" balloon? Or should absolutely nothing happen?[/COLOR] (Obviously, the Microtech LED does not light up either - but that seems to happen ONLY when it is actually working.)

Have you tried going to Computer Management then to Drive Management to see if the drive is recognized there. Reason the PNP may not be showed is the dive may have to be initiated.
February 15th, 2017, 02:28 PM
MrCreosote

Since I don't have any drivers loaded, I don't see how the drive could be recognized. And getting the drivers is a hassle too. In particular, would I be better off trying to get it to work on XP instead of 7 which I would prefer?
February 16th, 2017, 07:42 AM
Zonie

Generally speaking, a HDD does not have to have a driver to be seen by the disk management. once it has been initialized then it will look for the driver. You could try it on the XP but may still have to follow the same procedure. Did you also try all the procedures that are listed above?
February 16th, 2017, 10:59 AM
MrCreosote

I'm trying to determine if the XpressSCSI is not obviously broken with minimal effort since others have had great difficulty getting this adapter to work.

I have reason to believe it will NOT work with the Iomega ZIP 100 Plus drive which is the only drive I have. I don't have a JAZ drive which is known to work.

This is further clouded by the XpressSCSI "getting its power" from the SCSI "terminal pin" (which implies it does not get it from the 5V USB pin) in which case one might speculate that "if you plug the cable into a USB port, nothing will happen."

I consulted the local PC repair shop and the owner (one-man shop, owner is very good at his craft) said the cable was bad because there is no response from a PC when the cable is inserted.

However, just thinking now, if you plug a ordinary USB cable into a PC, nothing also happens.

So now I'm thinking maybe I DO have to have a proper device connected to the XpressSCSI to have the PC respond to it. If this is the case and the drivers are not present, the "Unknown Device" balloon (and "USB Device Sound") should happen.

So now I'm left with does the ZIP 100 Plus work with this adapter which I think the answer is no.

Maybe I have to get a JAZ drive for cheap on eBay to test cable? Or is there some kind of list of devices that work? Read in some other thread the determining factor is what is done with the "terminal pin" by such a device. (And also noted that one may or may not be able to chain SCSI devices of a certain type on this adapter - that only once device can be connected.)

So for now, I'd like to stick with the original question: If I plug the cable into a PC, should the PC respond to it?

Thanks
Tom

PS. OCD (haha) is making me look for a JAZ drive now on eBay.
February 17th, 2017, 08:12 AM
MrCreosote

Here is the other article from Low End Mac that I'm also getting information from. Key points are Bold, and especially key points are Blue, and Red means "WTF you've got to be kidding."

Low End Mac:

Mac USB & FireWire
Microtech XpressSCSI

Sathe Dilip - 1999.09.21

The following article is adapted from a posting to The iMac List written by Sathe Dilip. It is reprinted with his permission.

After ordering it in March, I finally received my Microtech XpressSCSI USB-to-SCSI converter cable about three weeks back. I wanted to use it with my SCSI Zip drive. I had avoided buying a USB Zip, thinking that I would be also able to use any other SCSI devices that are supported. The data sheet on USB XpressSCSI said it worked with a Zip, so I was counting on that.

After I received it, I called Microtech to ask them a couple of questions about connectors, etc. In that call, I was told that the Zip drive does not work alone with the XpressSCSI. You have to use a second SCSI device on the chain and terminate it, I was told. I have an old Quantum SCSI drive, which has a termination switch. So I connected everything as I was told and started everything, only to find that even the LED on the adapter won't light-up. Loaded the driver software - nothing.

I called Microtech and was told that XpressSCSI receives its power from the termpower (termination power) connection of the SCSI chain, and that I should look for the termpower jumper on the Quantum drive. I opened the drive, only to find that the drive did not have this jumper. (I exchanged some email in this regard with LaCie, but that's a different story). I was told that I will need to use a compatible device (listed on Microtech's web page) or a powered terminator (somewhere near $60).

I borrowed a Jaz drive (listed as compatible) from a friend to test the thing out and connected it at the end of the SCSI chain. This time the LED on XpressSCSI lit up, but I did not get any drive on the desktop. So I called Microtech again. This time the tech support guy was a good one. He explained what I needed to get the thing to work. The list included latest drivers for anything I connect on the SCSI chain and the latest update for USB class devices from Apple. Microtech's manual says you will be prompted (by their software?) if the device you have connected needs a driver, but I never received a prompt.

In the meantime, I had also researched the subject of termpower and found that:

It is just a 5 volt supply (actually they use a Schottky diode in series with the 5 volts from the drive's power supply, so it is a bit less, something like 4.8 volts)
Apple's implementation of SCSI with the 25 pin connector is not per the SCSI standard.
Older Macs and some Apple SCSI devices did not use the termpower connection over the cable.
The newer Macs connect pin number 25 of the SCSI connector to enable use of termpower.
My Quantum drive does not support term power.

Armed with this knowledge, I decided to make the Zip and Quantum drives work with the SCSI adapter. I downloaded the latest drivers for the Zip, as well as Apple's latest update for USB class devices. I downloaded the upgrade to Silverlining (drivers used by LaCie, makers of Quantum drives). I installed these on the iMac and the drive, respectively. Then I proceeded with creating a 25 pin adapter that had pin no. 25 fed with an external 5 volt supply (pin 24 is ground). I connected this at the end of the SCSI chain, over the second 25 pin connector on the Quantum.

Now I connected everything - and sure enough, everything worked. I had the Quantum and the Zip showing on my desktop. I observed that Zip Tools from Iomega did not work properly with my drive, but that is probably not a Microtech problem. (I can use the SCSI Zip drive alone with the iMac when I use the 5 volt adapter I made.)

In short, the USB XpressSCSI works, but it needs certain considerations (compatible devices, termpower, latest drivers). Microtech manuals are not much help. Their tech support gives out advice in bits and pieces. If you do not have SCSI devices from your earlier Macs and you just need to connect a storage device to your iMac, I say just buy a USB ready device.

As to why Microtech chose to get the device power from termpower and not from the USB port (all active ports are supposed to supply up to 500 mA; this adapter needs about 250 mA), I don't understand. A similar device manufactured by Newer Tech seems to have the same approach to device power, so it may have something to do with the SCSI standard.

I have been wondering why the manufacturers have chosen SCSI termpower as the power source instead of taking the power from the USB port. I am coming to believe that they were probably targeting notebook users in doing so. They did not want to deplete the notebook batteries faster by taking the power from the USB port. However, they could have added a switch and left the choice to the end user.