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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: RedWarrior on September 12, 2016, 04:28:52 AM

Title: Floppy drives - clean, fix, or replace?
Post by: RedWarrior on September 12, 2016, 04:28:52 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdsjtX-iIdU

Just wondering about floppy drives & how fragile or otherwise they are.

Do "cleaning disks" work?
Is the mechanism super-fragile, or is it like the head of a tape machine? (can I just give it a wipe/scrub to make it better?)

What is a safe way to maintain or repair an old and dusty disk drive?

Thanks guys =)
Title: Re: Floppy drives - clean, fix, or replace?
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on September 12, 2016, 05:28:50 AM
Cleaning disks work if your problem is that the heads are dirty. Alignments are certainly doable, many folks here who've done that before. Another pretty common problem is that the sensors that detect when a disk is inserted, and the write protect sensor, get dirty and stop working correctly. Sometimes a bit 'o compressed air, or a drop of alcohol on a Q-tip, etc. Overall it depends on exactly what problem you're having.

Honesty, as I said in your other thread, with the cost of a brand new floppy drive being less than $20 USD, you might save yourself the trouble and just pick up a spare until you can determine exactly where the problem lies. Good luck! :)
Title: Re: Floppy drives - clean, fix, or replace?
Post by: paul1981 on September 12, 2016, 01:14:57 PM
Another cause of fault could be bad caps. People recap their main boards but forget about the floppy. Some of these drives are over 30 years old now.
Title: Re: Floppy drives - clean, fix, or replace?
Post by: motrucker on September 12, 2016, 02:05:35 PM
As Oldsmobile_Mike (http://www.amiga.org/forums/member.php?u=1043) said, with the cost of new drives, there's no sense in worrying about them.
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=106
Title: Re: Floppy drives - clean, fix, or replace?
Post by: Acill on September 12, 2016, 02:10:16 PM
Quote from: paul1981;813816
Another cause of fault could be bad caps. People recap their main boards but forget about the floppy. Some of these drives are over 30 years old now.


Very true and not only caps. Its honestly not worth the cost to fix a floppy these days. They are still available to buy and I have 4 new Amiga HD drives and two 880k ones here for my 4000T as spares. I cant think of how rare it is to use them though, other than getting 3.1 installed when I have to restart a new hard drive, but even then you can do it on a PC using WinUAE much faster.