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Floppy drive for Macintosh IIfx
Posted by: toples50 on 2020-02-22 11:18:19 Guys can I use these floppy drives(I think they are from LC) with my Macintosh IIfx or not?
Posted by: Bolle on 2020-02-22 11:40:15 Those are manual inject drives. While they will electrically work in the IIfx they won’t fit mechanically. Even if you would get the slot on the case to line up with the drive you wouldn’t be able to insert floppies because the drive does not suck them in like the older drives. Your drives did not come out of a LC. LC450 or LC475 possibly. Notice the different cutouts on machines with auto-inject vs. manual inject.
Posted by: toples50 on 2020-02-22 11:52:10 Thanks very much Bolle. The problem now is where can I find the right floppy drive for the IIfx
Posted by: ArmorAlley on 2020-02-22 12:00:51 I have a lot of rarely used macs that I use more often as the source of spare parts for things like this than I do them.. These are mechanical items which need greasing every decade or two and most haven't been looked after. Somewhere on the site may have one spare to sell. However, I think that the Floppy EMU from BMOW may be the way to go: https://www.bigmessowires.com/shop/product/floppy-emu-model-c/
Posted by: toples50 on 2020-02-22 12:19:20 I have a lot of rarely used macs that I use more often as the source of spare parts for things like this than I do them.. These are mechanical items which need greasing every decade or two and most haven't been looked after. Somewhere on the site may have one spare to sell. However, I think that the Floppy EMU from BMOW may be the way to go: https://www.bigmessowires.com/shop/product/floppy-emu-model-c/ Thanks very much ArmorAlley but I don't want to spend so much money for this floppy EMU(I prefer to spend the money to an old Mac 🙂 ). I have seen two options on eBay but I don't know if they will fit in my IIfx? Can I post the links here?
Posted by: ArmorAlley on 2020-02-23 01:34:27 Thanks very much ArmorAlley but I don't want to spend so much money for this floppy EMU(I prefer to spend the money to an old Mac 🙂 ). I understand that. Do bear in mind that replacement floppy drives are quite heavy and unless you get them locally, the shipping will be expensive. Floppy EMUs will work on any Mac with an internal floppy port and can hold the contents of a micro-SD card. Original floppy drives are, furthermore, 30 years old and may need some tending loving care (i.e. they need to be fixed). So many items in the Mac II era are now sold as «untested». Care needs to be taken with them and the original floppies too. There are available exploded diagrams of the various macs and these list Apple part numbers. We should all have one of these for each of our macs. The Service Source files have useful info too. tim.id.au's site is rather good (and not just for some manuals). Here is the Service Source for the IIfx: http://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/legacy/macintosh_ii.iix.iifx.pdf The part number for the floppy drive in question for the IIfx is 661-0542.
Posted by: toples50 on 2020-02-23 09:01:13 I have found this article about floppy drives: https://siber-sonic.com/mac/superfloppy.html?fbclid=IwAR18XgxXhnJc7e0NmGx6ir0MBB2egMNsBUls_wyBZyjsgzRpYbYdDgtAZRo
Posted by: trag on 2020-02-25 14:47:04 I have found this article about floppy drives: https://siber-sonic.com/mac/superfloppy.html?fbclid=IwAR18XgxXhnJc7e0NmGx6ir0MBB2egMNsBUls_wyBZyjsgzRpYbYdDgtAZRo I didn't read the middle very carefully, but I think the page is incomplete in terms of what was once widely known floppy information. Near the end of the page, the author writes that auto-inject floppies failed in the PM8500, with the symptom that they continuously tried to eject. IIRC, this is caused by using the wrong floppy cable. There are red striped and yellow striped floppy cables and the wrong one causes that symptom in auto-inject floppies, again, IIRC.
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2020-02-25 19:41:12 Floppy drives will wear out eventually, especially the motorized 68k mac ones. I regret not snagging more when they were more common.
Posted by: LaPorta on 2020-02-26 15:50:57 Every time I find a beater machine, I’m pretty much just hoping the CRT and floppy drive are good.
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2020-02-26 15:58:31 Most beater machines are stripped and even if the board works finding a SCSI HD and working floppy drive will cost a bunch of money and even more if mounting hardware is needed. The second to the last beater I purchased was a 660av and from what I recall it needed recapped, new PS, and a HD and I still need to find 2 legs for it. Thankfully the CDROM and floppy were fine and the recap was uneventful (did it myself). Last one would be a Mac II that still needs traces fixed.
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