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Slimline floppy drives - need a 1.25mm FPC connector one

acadiel

Experienced Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2009
Messages
287
TL;DR; Does anyone know offhand what floppy models are direct drive and 26 pin 1.25mm FPC? I can order a couple of whatever to try out.

As far as slimline floppy drives (i.e. laptops and servers) go, I have need of a 1.25mm FPC variety to replace a dead floppy. (It's actually REALLY hard to service this thing, and the belt is what's wrong with it.) I'm looking for a direct drive replacement to fit in a Toshiba external floppy enclosure.

I got two Dell 1.00mm FPC server floppy drives (they're direct drive) and put them in my late 90s Toshiba floppy enclosure (PA2611U - 440CD* on to 490XCDT) and they worked fine - because that enclosure used a 1.00mm FPC connector. They're black in a beige enclosure, but I don't care - they work, and much less prone to failure.

However, I have an older 400CD* to 430CD* enclosure (it's the more rectangle shape, and could either house a floppy or CD ROM), and these were meant to use a 1.25mm FPC connector instead on their caddy (the floppy was originally a belt driven EME279TB). I'd love to put a 1.25mm FPC direct drive in there as a drop in replacement, because that's what the caddy uses, but I have no idea how to find a drive that is 1.25mm. A lot of these server type floppies don't have data sheets - and nobody's going to measure the pin pitch on an eBay auction.

As for alternatives, I've looked at the Gotek Slim FPC model (but again, it doesn't say if it's 1.00mm or 1.25mm FPC). I've also looked at the adapter board on ebay that converts between 1.25mm and 1.0mm, but there's no room in this external case/caddy for that.

Thanks!
 
Most recent drives (e.g. Teac FD05HF) will probably be 1.00mm. If 1.25mm, they probably will be older and belt-driven.
 
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I guess there's no room for these:

https://www.floppyemulator.com/products/26-pin-1-25-to-26-pin-1-00-fpc-adapter/

https://www.ebay.com/c/10011536766

I think all my drives are 1.00 but I'll check anyway. Good luck!

Yeah, I don't think there's enough clearance. I did order one just in case that 1-2mm would be enough space, but I'm not holding my breath.

I did order some belts, but after I got it apart, I just don't have the dexterity to take that whole mechanism apart to replace the belt. The belt's not broken - it's just loose, and the motor just spins without driving the disk spindle.

Someone almost needs to make a smaller adapter that can have the two connectors on a small piece of FPC or ribbon to fit into tight enclosures.

My alternative is a GoTek, but I'm not seeing people have much luck with the $80 skinny one with the HxC firmware. Someone's done one, but they have some unresolved issues: https://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3615

I can get an external USB floppy on these - but not as A:\ (which is what I typically need to do final BIOS upgrade.)
 
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FYI, these aren't on the net anywhere. Enjoy. I've zipped these - the DOS and EMS driver disks for the BP150.
 

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