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Best/Most Reliable DD 5.25" Floppy Drive

nullvalue

nullvalue

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So, I'm putting together a dedicated Greaseweazle box and discovered the spare DD drive I was going to use is no longer writing reliably (Mitsubishi MF501A-301UD)

On the HD 1.2MB side of things I happen to have a TEAC FD-55GFR which I think is a really well built drive and favored among many of us..

However, what are your opinions on DD 360kb models? Does anyone have a favorite? Preferably half-height..

While I'm asking, I may as well ask are there any 5.25" HD models that are favored over the TEAC? What about 3.5" drives?
 
If you like TEAC drives there is the FD-55BV-06-U that is a 360K 48tpi drive. I’ve got one and it seems to be a pretty decent drive. I’ve also got a “ROTEC” brand that I had never heard of before I got it, but if you google them a lot of TEAC drives pop up too, so maybe they were related (clone?) or maybe at some point they were the same company? I don’t know. But for a brand I’ve never heard of it seems to do fine.

When using kryoflux on 3.5” drives, I keep a few different brands/models around. For normal MFM floppies they all, usually, seem to work fine, but I’ve had some issues with Mac 400K/800K floppies. Sometimes I’ll get halfway through a disk with all green sectors and then everything turns red. I switch to another drive and it can sometimes read the sectors that I couldn’t read before.
 
On Teac drives, the letter after the number tells you the density. So Teac FD55B<anything> basically describes a double-sided 48 tpi drive. An FD55F describes a double-sided 96 tpi drive (but not high-density); the FD-55E is the single-sided version. -G implies a "1.2MB" capability -H, a "1.44MB" capability. Some drives are mutli-modal, so a FD55FG is a 1.2MB drive that can also do 720K. The stuff after the first set of letters describes various configuration options. For example, a FD55BR has the bail lever on the right (I think) side of the drive, and so on.

Thus, an FD-55A<anything> is a single-sided 48 tpi drive. I like Teac drives very much; Matsushita aren't bad either.
 
I never really asked, but since I have a few of them, how reliable are FD55F's with DD media?

As far as DD drives, I've had the best luck with TEAC's as well.
 
55Fs in my experience work very well with DD media; if you're using a PC, sometimes you can get away with declaring them in the BIOS setup as 720K 3.5" drives.
 
Thats what I was hoping to hear! I'm going to throw one in the Compaq Portable 1. Was looking for another HH drive to fill the gap once st-225 is installed. And i'm out of black 3.5" drives with a 5.25" faceplate. I hate the look of the adapter housings , color AND texture never matches right to the older stuff. Maybe I have OCD or something, but just ruins it for me.
 
At this point you'll be lucky to find a working half-height 360k floppy drive for a reasonable price. The TEAC FD-55BR is considered to be a highly reliable drive but is prohibitably expensive. I recently managed to pick up a Shugart SA455-3AA drive that works well. There are a number of good options available such as Toshiba FDD5425a, Panasonic JU-455. Avoid the full-height Tandon TM-100-2a as it is one of the most unreliable and unsafe drives (for your precious 360k floppy disks) unless you need one for its historical value in an IBM 5150 or 5160. Avoid quarter height drives from Canon MD5201 and Okidata 3305 unless you need one for a Compaq Portable II as they also tend to be unreliable.
 
jscipione said:
At this point you'll be lucky to find a working half-height 360k floppy drive for a reasonable price. The TEAC FD-55BR is considered to be a highly reliable drive but is prohibitably expensive. I recently managed to pick up a Shugart SA455-3AA drive that works well. There are a number of good options available such as Toshiba FDD5425a, Panasonic JU-455. Avoid the full-height Tandon TM-100-2a as it is one of the most unreliable and unsafe drives (for your precious 360k floppy disks) unless you need one for its historical value in an IBM 5150 or 5160. Avoid quarter height drives from Canon MD5201 and Okidata 3305 unless you need one for a Compaq Portable II as they also tend to be unreliable.
Click to expand...
Tell me about it, I have a stack of non-working Tandon TM-100's - very disappointing because I do need them for my 5150's and a Cromemco S-100 box. Of the 6 or 7 I own I think only 1 is working reliably at this point so it gets moved around from time to time. Another one is iffy and the others all have speed control problems or other issues. At some point I'll try part swapping to hopefully get at least a couple more functional.
 
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Times change. I remember picking up a Matsushita 360K drive at the local e-cycler. Still in its original retail packing. Cost me all of $5. Still have the drive in its packaging.

It seems that things go through phases. First is primary use, next is "who in their right mind still uses this?", last is "I'll pay anything for that".
 
Chuck(G) said:
Times change. I remember picking up a Matsushita 360K drive at the local e-cycler. Still in its original retail packing. Cost me all of $5. Still have the drive in its packaging.
Click to expand...

Double your money, I'll give you $10 :biggrin:

Seriously though, if you'd consider selling it please send me a DM.
 
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jscipione said:
At this point you'll be lucky to find a working half-height 360k floppy drive for a reasonable price.
Click to expand...
Sometimes you just get lucky! I was able to get one 1.2MB drive, one 360K drive, five 1.4MB 3.5" drives, and even a tape drive for only $25 the other day (all working!) Just gotta keep your eyes peeled on ebay...
 
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