I bought two of these from him a long time ago (they were $10/ea then) and they're brilliant, so I've negotiated to buy a flat rate box full of about 5. I shall never want for external 3.5" floppies again, and with that many will feel perfectly comfortable trying to mod one into a 5.25".
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NOS 3.5" 1.44mb Microsolutions Backpack for $1 BIN - not my auction
- Thread starter Maverick1978
- Start date
Tetrium
Experienced Member
Are these normal floppy drives inside a box with a converter and cables attached just like standard external USB drives are?
I mean can you remove the drive from the casing and put in a different 1.44M floppydrive in there?
I got a reply back, he'll ship to Europe but it'll be expensive so I'd rather know if I have actually a use for them BEFORE I buy them
I mean can you remove the drive from the casing and put in a different 1.44M floppydrive in there?
I got a reply back, he'll ship to Europe but it'll be expensive so I'd rather know if I have actually a use for them BEFORE I buy them
Chuck(G)
25k Member
Golly, when was the last time you peered inside of a USB floppy drive? :shock: Most are just a standard USB floppy drive, such as a Teac FD-05U, with a cable. No adapter board at all (indeed, I haven't seen such a drive for at least a decade).
At any rate, the MS units are basically a standard floppy drive, connected to a circuit board containing a PC8477 floppy controller, 8K of SRAM, an 8051-type microncontroller and 256 bits of serial EEPROM (which hold configuration information).
digger
Experienced Member
Since we both live in the Netherlands, perhaps we can order a number of them together. Perhaps Jorg would like to get in on this as well, making it cheaper for all of us.
Tetrium
Experienced Member
Actually, we live REALY close to eachother! That thou8ght had come to my mind, I think it would be a good idea!Since we both live in the Netherlands, perhaps we can order a number of them together. Perhaps Jorg would like to get in on this as well, making it cheaper for all of us.
And the reason I asked about the floppydrive's interchangeability is because I'm wanting to replace the original one with a 2.88M floppydrive. So basically, if the floppydrive, after having been taken out of the case, has the same ordinary connections as a normal floppydrive has, I'd be in business!
The USB external drives are almost always slim ones, my 2.88M drives won't fit
It does. I own two of them and have disassembled one. Identical to a standard floppy drive in every way, same power connector, same 34-pin cable, same everything (so you can rewire for an IBM drive the same way you would on a normal PC). The only problem you might run into is chip support. Chuck tells me that they can support a 5.25" drive, but I have no idea if the FDC in there can do a 2.88M 3.5".
If that works out let me know, I might start using the 2.88MB format, heh.
If that works out let me know, I might start using the 2.88MB format, heh.
Tetrium
Experienced Member
Will do
I read earlier in this topic that the controller does support 1mb transfer rate which is what a 2.88M floppydrive needs. This means I can finally furfill something I've wanted for years, having an external 2.88M floppy drive! :D
There are also basically 2 different 'tastes' of the 2.88M floppy drive:The all too common IBM one with it's non-standard wiring, and the PC version which is somewhat more rare (but not uncommon!). I have the PC version ones. Finding disks for them seems to be more of a problem and I've read they seem to go bad more easilly. I have not noticed this with my 2.88M disks, which are IBM brand unformatted
Tetrium
Experienced Member
DELETED!!
Reason, he replied to me and hopefully all will be fine :D
Reason, he replied to me and hopefully all will be fine :D
Last edited:
mikerm
Experienced Member
I just got the 2 I ordered in today. Awesome. Shrinkwrapped even. I think I'm going to get a couple more from him.
Tetrium
Experienced Member
He has only 43 left, better not be too slow if you want more of them!
I ordered 4 for myself and 2 each to 2 other members from here. I suppose it'll arrive in a week+.
Very friendly seller! He even took the trouble to send them all the way to Europe!
He doesn't even want a profit, as long as he doesn't loose any money from this.
I ordered 4 for myself and 2 each to 2 other members from here. I suppose it'll arrive in a week+.
Very friendly seller! He even took the trouble to send them all the way to Europe!
He doesn't even want a profit, as long as he doesn't loose any money from this.
mikerm
Experienced Member
ok, I just bought a few more then. 3. One more for me (to have 2 originals), and then 2 for my collector friend too).
Tetrium
Experienced Member
He's down to 40 units now. It's not that I'm trying to boost his sales or anything, but they aren't gonna get any cheaper...nor newer.
Btw, just noticed I'm a senior member now! Yay? :D
Btw, just noticed I'm a senior member now! Yay? :D
modem7
10k Member
I received my units today. I was expecting the AC/DC power adapter to be a 115Vac job only, but I was surprised: "100V-240V~ 50-60Hz"
Tetrium
Experienced Member
Pfeeeew!!
I never even thought of that, silly me
Mine still haven't arrived yet but I expect them to arrive within 2 weeks or so?
Tetrium
Experienced Member
Just for the heck of it, I looked on Ebay and found ONE person selling packages of 10 each. Starting bid is €60! Man, I wish I had bought more back when I had the chance
(It's a whole story in itself)They should start manufacturing them again hehe
modem7
10k Member
For packs of 3, see eBay item 220342277766
So you guys know, I talked to Chuck(G) and successfully converted one of my drives into a 5.25" 1.2MB. I figured I'd document how to do it here, this way everybody who's bought them is likely to see.
You run SETID (comes on the driver disk) with an undocumented parameter "DRIVETYPE". It lets you set the ID as normal, but then presents you with a menu to choose from various drive types for the first disk on the controller, and an optional second one. The choices are:
- 360K 5.25"
- 1.2MB 5.25"
- 1.44MB 3.5"
- 2.88MB 3.5"
I was slightly disappointed to not see an option for 720K, but a 720K drive will likely work in 1.44MB mode anyway, just only with 720K disks of course.
You run SETID (comes on the driver disk) with an undocumented parameter "DRIVETYPE". It lets you set the ID as normal, but then presents you with a menu to choose from various drive types for the first disk on the controller, and an optional second one. The choices are:
- 360K 5.25"
- 1.2MB 5.25"
- 1.44MB 3.5"
- 2.88MB 3.5"
I was slightly disappointed to not see an option for 720K, but a 720K drive will likely work in 1.44MB mode anyway, just only with 720K disks of course.
Tetrium
Experienced Member
So you guys know, I talked to Chuck(G) and successfully converted one of my drives into a 5.25" 1.2MB. I figured I'd document how to do it here, this way everybody who's bought them is likely to see.
You run SETID (comes on the driver disk) with an undocumented parameter "DRIVETYPE". It lets you set the ID as normal, but then presents you with a menu to choose from various drive types for the first disk on the controller, and an optional second one. The choices are:
- 360K 5.25"
- 1.2MB 5.25"
- 1.44MB 3.5"
---->> :D - 2.88MB 3.5"
I was slightly disappointed to not see an option for 720K, but a 720K drive will likely work in 1.44MB mode anyway, just only with 720K disks of course.
This is looking better and better
Can't wait for the drives to arrive
Btw, I don't think you can set a 720K floppydrive to 1.44M. You can the other way around with some of the realy old drives (some had jumpers on them for 720K mode).
Maybe it's not relevant, but once I had this floppydrive and was unsure wether it was a 2.88M drive or not. I set 2.88M in the BIOS. It would read and write 1.44M just fine but would lock up once given the order to read/write to a 2.88M disk.
Means it's a 1.44MB I believe.. same thing happens if you use a 720K drive as a 1.44MB in the BIOS.
You misunderstand - I mean tell the controller it's a 1.44MB drive, and only use 720K disks in the drive. It should control the same and be irrelevant that the controller thinks it can also read 1.44MB when it cant.