mtools: mzip
4.27 Mzip
=========
The 'mzip' command is used to issue ZIP disk specific commands on Linux,
Solaris or HP-UX. Its syntax is:
'mzip' ['-epqrwx']
'Mzip' allows the following command line options:
'e'
Ejects the disk.
'f'
Force eject even if the disk is mounted (must be given in addition
to '-e').
'r'
Write protect the disk.
'w'
Remove write protection.
'p'
Password write protect.
'x'
Password protect
'u'
Temporarily unprotect the disk until it is ejected. The disk
becomes writable, and reverts back to its old state when ejected.
'q'
Queries the status
To remove the password, set it to one of the password-less modes '-r'
or '-w': mzip will then ask you for the password, and unlock the disk.
If you have forgotten the password, you can get rid of it by low-level
formatting the disk (using your SCSI adapter's BIOS setup).
The ZipTools disk shipped with the drive is also password protected.
On MS-DOS or on a Mac, this password is automatically removed once the
ZipTools have been installed. From various articles posted to Usenet, I
learned that the password for the tools disk is 'APlaceForYourStuff'(1).
Mzip knows about this password, and tries it first, before prompting you
for a password. Thus 'mzip -w z:' unlocks the tools disk(2). The tools
disk is formatted in a special way so as to be usable both in a PC and
in a Mac. On a PC, the Mac file system appears as a hidden file named
'partishn.mac'. You may erase it to reclaim the 50 Megs of space taken
up by the Mac file system.
4.27.1 Bugs
-----------
This command is a big kludge. A proper implementation would take a
rework of significant parts of mtools, but unfortunately I don't have
the time for this right now. The main downside of this implementation
is that it is inefficient on some architectures (several successive
calls to mtools, which defeats mtools' caching).
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) To see the articles, search for 'APlaceForYourStuff' using Google
Groups
(2) I didn't know about this yet when I bought my own Zip drive.
Thus I ended up reformatting my tools disk, and hence I haven't had the
opportunity to test the password yet. If anybody still has their tools
disk with the original password, could you try it out? Thanks in
advance