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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Everblue on November 29, 2009, 07:49:09 AM
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My A4000T's floppy drive acts weird sometimes (like saying that there is a bad disk in drive, when in fact, there is nothing) so I thought its time to replace it. I know that normal PC Floppy Disk drives can be modified and be used in towered amigas... will any drive do, and what is the procedure?
THanks!
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Hi Nostromo;
First off, try googling 'PC floppy on Amiga' or something similar. I am going by memory here, be sure to get a second opinion :)
When you say that your 4000T's floppy says there is a bad disk, when there is nothing in the drive.... makes me wonder if the microswitches in the drive need to be cleaned. I had a 1010 drive do the same thing. You may need to take the drive apart to do this. You'll need to clean the 2 switches, using contact cleaner... Make sure it won't affect plastic or other materials.
As for using a PC drive on the Amiga... Well there's some info out there.. but you need either a modified drive, or cable.... I have a modified cable in my 1200T, seems to work 100%... ( I'm playing Blob from floppy now for 'testing' purposes ;) ) maybe others can give more info... it's past my bedtime ......
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Thanks for the help :) - I wonder where I can get one of these modified cables?
BTW, how do I remove the floppy drive from the A4000T, do I have to remove the left panel? Isnt that held in place by pop rivets?
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I have modded a couple of PC drives to work on Amiga. I forgot exactly the basic proceedure but its pretty easy although not all drives can be modded a lot can.
The easiest part is getting it to read Amiga floppies. Slightly harder but still usually quite easy is enabling it to detect a disk when inserted. (Click Click... when no disk is in)
Older drives are easier to mod. Some its just jumpers that need setting.
There are some sites with guides.
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Hi, i bought a pc to Amiga floppy converter from Ian Steadman, at a very reasonable price, he even gives the schematic on how to make it yourself. I bought one fully assembled from him, and it still works like charm. Find all the information at http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/designs/Floppy_Adaptor/floppy_adaptor.html
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Hi Nostromo, I can't help you with the modified cable, mine came with my 1200 Power Tower.... but there has to be some info on Aminet, I would think. It's just a twist in the cable.....
As for removing the floppy, I had trouble with that too :)
You have to remove the front panel... i.e. what the door is attached to... Best bet is to use advanced search here on A.org, search for posts containing ' 4000 ' by poster ' marcfrick2112 '
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Overlapping information in all of these:
http://www.pitsch.de/stuff/amiga/floppy.htm
http://jope.fi/drives/
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=30944
My opinion even though no-one asked for it: forget cable mods, better install a properly modified mechanism that works with a straight cable. If your drive requires you to swap 2 and 34 around on the cable, then it will not be 100% compatible.
These are very easy to do, and instructions are for most commonly available (second hand) drive mechanisms.