[Video] 'Parts/Not Working' eBay External Floppy Drive

General discussions or ideas about hardware.
User avatar
Badwolf
Posts: 2231
Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:09 pm

[Video] 'Parts/Not Working' eBay External Floppy Drive

Post by Badwolf »

As a lunchtime aside, here's an inspection and test video of an 'untested' external floppy disc drive I had off eBay.



Do we think it's worth persisting with the drive unit?

Cheers,

BW
DFB1 Open source 50MHz 030 and TT-RAM accelerator for the Falcon
DSTB1 Open source 16Mhz 68k and AltRAM accelerator for the ST
Smalliermouse ST-optimised USB mouse adapter based on SmallyMouse2
FrontBench The Frontier: Elite 2 intro as a benchmark
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 10472
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: [Video] 'Parts/Not Working' eBay External Floppy Drive

Post by rubber_jonnie »

That happens to be the exact external FDD that I have. Mine was made by Datel, but the case looks identical. I dropped a Gotek in mine and it works a treat, plus I was able to use the cable as a template to build an external FDD cable for my STs.

Apologies, I haven't had time to watch your video fully, where did you get to? Does it work?

IMHO, definitely worth saving, even if just as an external FDD, but I see no reason a Gotek wouldn't work in there.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
stephen_usher
Posts: 5580
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 7:19 pm
Location: Oxford, UK.
Contact:

Re: [Video] 'Parts/Not Working' eBay External Floppy Drive

Post by stephen_usher »

Yeah. They were the most common drives available in the late 80s. There were Amiga versions too.
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
User avatar
Badwolf
Posts: 2231
Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:09 pm

Re: [Video] 'Parts/Not Working' eBay External Floppy Drive

Post by Badwolf »

rubber_jonnie wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 1:56 pm Apologies, I haven't had time to watch your video fully, where did you get to? Does it work?

IMHO, definitely worth saving, even if just as an external FDD, but I see no reason a Gotek wouldn't work in there.
Hiya,

The electronics & cable were fine & happily powered and connected to a Gotek, but the main drive unit, despite the mechanism seeming in great nick, span up but wasn't recognised.

Cursory (external) inspection didn't turn up any obviously blown components and there didn't appear any jumpers to play with. I switched the drive unit and reassembled.

I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to floppy drives, so am not sure if its' worth going back to debug it further. I did wonder if perhaps it had been changed in the past as it yielded the same symptoms as putting a PC (S1) drive into it, but haven't pursued that either, pending input.

Any thoughts appreciated!

BW
DFB1 Open source 50MHz 030 and TT-RAM accelerator for the Falcon
DSTB1 Open source 16Mhz 68k and AltRAM accelerator for the ST
Smalliermouse ST-optimised USB mouse adapter based on SmallyMouse2
FrontBench The Frontier: Elite 2 intro as a benchmark
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 10472
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: [Video] 'Parts/Not Working' eBay External Floppy Drive

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Badwolf wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 3:01 pm
rubber_jonnie wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 1:56 pm Apologies, I haven't had time to watch your video fully, where did you get to? Does it work?

IMHO, definitely worth saving, even if just as an external FDD, but I see no reason a Gotek wouldn't work in there.
Hiya,

The electronics & cable were fine & happily powered and connected to a Gotek, but the main drive unit, despite the mechanism seeming in great nick, span up but wasn't recognised.

Cursory (external) inspection didn't turn up any obviously blown components and there didn't appear any jumpers to play with. I switched the drive unit and reassembled.

I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to floppy drives, so am not sure if its' worth going back to debug it further. I did wonder if perhaps it had been changed in the past as it yielded the same symptoms as putting a PC (S1) drive into it, but haven't pursued that either, pending input.

Any thoughts appreciated!

BW
Yeah, they're pretty simple electronically, just a wiring harness and a regulator for power. Mine took a Gotek no problem, just had to set the jumper to S0, no others required, and it works great with my 520ST. What I should do is dig out a spare grey case as the black Gotek I used looks a bit ugly!!

You can find jumper settings here: https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... oing+Gotek and that should let your Gotek work just fine as an external drive.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
DoG
Posts: 1125
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2018 12:26 pm

Re: [Video] 'Parts/Not Working' eBay External Floppy Drive

Post by DoG »

The obvious thing to do is take the drives apart and clean them. Clean the top and bottom head and relubricate the mechanical parts. Also clean the small switches that detects that a disk is inserted. You could also change caps in the drive.

But then again, how much stuff do we have on real disks that we use? I have all my stuff on HDD and gotek.
User avatar
Badwolf
Posts: 2231
Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:09 pm

Re: [Video] 'Parts/Not Working' eBay External Floppy Drive

Post by Badwolf »

rubber_jonnie wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 3:23 pm You can find jumper settings here: https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... oing+Gotek and that should let your Gotek work just fine as an external drive.
The Gotek works fine -- it was the original I was curious about as it wasn't recognised.

BW
DFB1 Open source 50MHz 030 and TT-RAM accelerator for the Falcon
DSTB1 Open source 16Mhz 68k and AltRAM accelerator for the ST
Smalliermouse ST-optimised USB mouse adapter based on SmallyMouse2
FrontBench The Frontier: Elite 2 intro as a benchmark
User avatar
Badwolf
Posts: 2231
Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:09 pm

Re: [Video] 'Parts/Not Working' eBay External Floppy Drive

Post by Badwolf »

DoG wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 3:39 pm The obvious thing to do is take the drives apart and clean them. Clean the top and bottom head and relubricate the mechanical parts. Also clean the small switches that detects that a disk is inserted. You could also change caps in the drive.

But then again, how much stuff do we have on real disks that we use? I have all my stuff on HDD and gotek.
I have a pile of discs that came with the STE I bought (and nothing else that has a real disc drive), so the thought of a working external is nice.

In this case it's not 'drive not ready' or a 'disc reading error' or similar -- the drive isn't recognised at all. It spins up on reboot, but trying to open drive B at all gives the 'Insert B into A' prompt.

So this is a bit upstream from the heads or the disc detect switch, I think.

Ta,

BW
DFB1 Open source 50MHz 030 and TT-RAM accelerator for the Falcon
DSTB1 Open source 16Mhz 68k and AltRAM accelerator for the ST
Smalliermouse ST-optimised USB mouse adapter based on SmallyMouse2
FrontBench The Frontier: Elite 2 intro as a benchmark
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 10472
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: [Video] 'Parts/Not Working' eBay External Floppy Drive

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Badwolf wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 3:50 pm
rubber_jonnie wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 3:23 pm You can find jumper settings here: https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... oing+Gotek and that should let your Gotek work just fine as an external drive.
The Gotek works fine -- it was the original I was curious about as it wasn't recognised.

BW
Ahh, I'm with you now :)
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
DoG
Posts: 1125
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2018 12:26 pm

Re: [Video] 'Parts/Not Working' eBay External Floppy Drive

Post by DoG »

Heads could be misaligned or maybe track 0 is not detected? There is also some programs that can test if the drive spins at 300rpm so you know that is working at least. That can make the bitstream go wacko.

It isn't much else you can check really. Fixing misaligned heads is not worth the effort. You will go crazy before it is fixed.
Post Reply

Return to “HARDWARE DISCUSSIONS”