connecting 3.5inch disk drive to 6128

[djjd]

Hi

Having problems getting a 3.5inch disk drive to run with my newly aquired 6128. Have followed the instructions on Wiki. Bought a new cable and drive from maplins (after unsuccessfully using the drive I had). Have managed to read the disk contents (after fromatting with  CPCdiskxp), but only a few times. After trying to run content of disk, dsk image, can not read contents at all now. Have taped the Double Density hole on disk before formatting.

How sensitive is the CPC to the brand of 3.5inch drive?

Any help on my problems and how to trouble shoot will be welcome as becoming very frustrated!

DJJD

[Cholo]

Well the disc brand and the floppy drive brand can matter. Used both some Sony and Teac drives but ive never really had troubles myslef. I did use brand new 1,4m floppies (noname) and used the tape trick. Note: ive managed to buy floppie in the past that simply didnt work (on pc and had errors) even tho they where brand new and sealed from the factory.

The Primary problem: Using a 3.5" drive on a 6128 as a second drive (drive B). Usually you shouldnt really run software direct from the 3.5" drive (unless you made it primary). The external drive is the B drive and most commercial software will error or crash unless it is run from the primary A drive. So the 3.5" is best used as a easy way to copy from pc-cpc .. basicly a "backup" drive to just store data.

About the tape fix: it all depends on the drive. A brand new Sony drive will get you a lot of errors if you use the floppy without the tape over the hole. Older drives you may find that they dont even need the tape fix at all. Using real dd 720k is the best of cause so perhaps it worth tracking down some. Getting some used ones cheap should be fairly easy (like look for some amiga auctions on ebay or similar .. usually always someone who sells a stack of used & "empty" floppies).

Getting a older drive: just an idea. I like Teac drives myself as they seem very realiable and picking up a used on is just 1-2 bucks.

[djjd]

Cholo

Thanks for your reply.

I will try some other disks and seek out some amiga disks. I will also try and get hold of a TEAC drive on ebay.

I will let you know how I get on.

As an alternative have you had any experience hooking up an Amstrad drive DDI-1 to a PC. How straight forward is this?. I notice there does not seem to be any intructions on doing this on the Wiki.

djjd

[redbox]

As an alternative have you had any experience hooking up an Amstrad drive DDI-1 to a PC. How straight forward is this?. I notice there does not seem to be any intructions on doing this on the Wiki.

I have also been considering this. I have found some information on attaching a 3" drive to a PC, but in this guide he used a DD drive from a PCW.

[Frank van Empel]

No go. No modern BIOS will support single sided disc drives. Even with a double sided, double density (and supported by your BIOS) you had better remove all other drives from the PC.

It is a tricky business: I would always prefer fitting a 3.5" with a proper READY signal to your CPC... The READY signal (or the lack of it) is the usual cause of connection problems on the CPC or PCW. One can fake it but the problem with thas it that the CPC or PCW thinks the thing is always... ready (surprise, surpise) even when there is not even a disc in it...

[djjd]

This morning I managed to aquire a chinon FZ-357 floppy drive with jumpers at the back. From googling I have established you can force the ready signal with a jumper and I believe force DD as well. It seems to be talked about with the TEAC drive and can be used with an Amiga. Is the TEAC a good choice because of jumpers on the back?

Anyone with experience of using the chinon FZ-357 with a cpc 6128 please let me know.

thanks

[Cholo]

Hook up a 3" drive to a pc: i know several people has managed to hook 3" drive to a pc as there was several threads about it in the old forum.

Managed to do it myself like this: On my old P4 4ghz that only support IDE drives, i set the bios to 5,25" drive setting. Then just hooked up the ide cable as the one and only drive. Powered on the DDI/FDI first and then the pc. Cant access a 3" floppy directly of cause, so installed CPCDiskXP that uses a special floppy driver to access the drive. Really quick way to get a whole floppy/dsk from/to cpc/pc.

Modifications or not: I didnt do any modifications to the drive i used, but its probably needed, as someone else tried to do the same and nearly fried the floppy controller. I do recall someone on the old forum explaining that he would remove one of the plugs inside the drive before hooking up. The question is: what plug and is it needed always and on both DDI and FDI drives?

Danger: if anyone attemps to hook up like this, do be carefull as it may lead to a damaged pc (unless someone can tell us how to do this right).

Using old pc 3.5" drives on CPC: I got a old Teac FD-235F 112U that also has jumpers on it. The jumpers are set at RDY (the ready signal) and DF1 (secondary drive). Here is how i use mine:



Works great as a second drive on a 464+DDI or as a second drive for 6128/664 (uk versions tested). Only works as a single sided drive of cause, as if you need to use 2 sides you need to mod the cable with a sideswitch.

[djjd]

thanks for another great reply cholo. Also use a external drive housing for power. Am using one of the disks without jumpers at moment.  When you say you have 2 jumpers set, is that all, you don't you the other two, presuming there is 14 pins and four jumpers. see link for detailed picture of jumper settings if interested
http://members.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php?driverid=286232

Made some good progress based on your first reply. It seems it was the floppy I was using that was causing the problem. Once I tried a different floppy I managed to do a full copy to a 3inch disk and run a dsk image successfully. I even managed to run a dsk image straight from the b:\ drive as well but as you say that seems more hit and miss.

What I am now finding is the 6128 drive is having trouble reading a lot of the 3inch disks I have inherited. I had to replace the belt and cleaned up the drive head with a kit and instructions I purchased on-line. I can run the system disk with disckit3 fairly consistently but formatting or copying any disks takes alot of retrys if it works at all. Not sure whether it is the drive or I should expect these old disks to be unreliable. What is your experience of 3inch disks. How reliable are they or should I think about sending the drive off to be refurbished (head re-aligned, motor checked etc? Dataserve do this work). I think I will buy some fresh disks in the mean time.

thanks

DJJD

[Cholo]

Well, cant see the picture in that link (it wants me to pay to see them i guess).

Good news is that if you got a Chinon FZ-357 it should work according to:
http://www.fvempel.nl/tested.html

Also good that you wanted to confirm what pins are set, as i just discovered that a third set has actually been set too. By looking really close to my Teac drive i can see that the "FG" has also been set by someone soldering them together using a tiny odd little blue thing.

In all there are 7 sets of 2 pins called:
MS
IR
RY (set by normal jumper cap on)
DC
D1 (set by normal jumper cap on)
D0
FG (soldered together with the tiny odd blue thingy).

[CPCIak]

Is this drive suitable to the CPC? Obviously the seller doesn't know the specs.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220541527038&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123

[Devilmarkus]

This looks like a 3" drive...
Without any info's it's not very useful to bid on it.
You should first ask the seller if this is a 3" or 3,5" drive.

[Gryzor]

...it's a 3.5" drive. It looks like it, too.