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Atari ST floppy drive

F

fatwizard

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2012
Messages
525
Location
Indiana, USA
I'm looking for a replacement internal floppy drive for my Atari STf. It is double sided 720K drive with the big central eject button. A broken Chinon F-354 that still spins the disk would be usable for parts, or a working drive of any make.

Thanks
 
I need one too. I feel like Atari drives break more than Apple ones.

I considered getting an SD card version but it's a little too expensive considering all I really want is to play my FDD games.
 
I just got this ST, and it is my first one, so I can't comment on the overall reliability of the floppy drives. This one was shown working in the eBay post I bought it from, and came with a floppy disk, but it doesn't spin now. You can use PC HD drives if they can be set to be the first drive, not the second drive as is typical of PC drives.

I have been getting by with one but I had to make an extension for the floppy ribbon cable, and the power lead to locate the drive outside the case. With that stylish faceplate and central eject button of the original drive, I would have to modify the case to mount the drive internally.

I finally found a drive, in Greece no less. I'm glad I can use the computer in the meantime.
 
I have a couple of working Chinon FB-354 drives on my site.

They don't have the center eject button, but, if you look at the eject button plate that runs along the front of the drive, it appears that the button can be relocated to the center position.
 
Caleb Hansberry said:
And they can be configured for an Atari? I was curious, do all drives that worked in Amigas work in Ataris?
Click to expand...

It has been my experience that Amiga drives are not compatible with the ST. I have found that any PC 3.5" floppy drive will work in the ST if it can be set as the first drive. Most 3.5" drive don't have a drive select jumper, but I have a Panasonic JU-257-524P and a Teac FD-235HF that have the jumper and work just fine with the ST. The only thing is most drives don't support the disk change line. You need to be careful to close any floppy disk window that is open on the desktop before you switch disks. I can't mount either of these drives inside the case because of the eject button design.
 
The FB-354 comes set to the first drive, I had to use an adapter to test it on a PC to avoid cutting traces and re-jumpering it. It also lets you move a 0-ohm SMD resister to determine what signal is output on pin 34(?) RDY or DC.
 
I fixed my Mega ST drive a while ago. Simple solution: replace the electrolytic capacitors. Those capacitors are small, I found suitable replacements at Mouser. I don't know what are you drive's problems, but it's worth a try.
 
There is a mod to make to a PC Floppy Drive to get it to work reliably in an ST. You need to solder a wire between pins 2 and 34 so that the density select switch works as a Disk Change signal to indicate to the ST that you have changed floppies. Otherwise you might ruin disks by writing the wrong information to them. There are articles out there on doing the mod.
 
Yeah, I have several PC floppy drives that work fine with the ST, but they don't have that weird front fascia and eject button, so they can't be mounted internally without modifying the case. I have made a floppy ribbon and power cable extensions to feed out through the empty floppy opening and have a drive perched on top of the machine. Works just fine, but it's just temporary.
 
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