Old A500+ issue..

[mastersetter]

I'd connect the a500+ floppy drive to escom A1200. just take care of the READY signal.
IIRC, escom ignores it, so it should be easier than other way round.
If it has the same symptoms, at least CIA chips are ok.
then you can run X-copy on A1200 to test drive.
recalibrating is fiddly, but not too hard, I've done it by hand.

Thanks for the tip Orange, maybe try that. I have looked at adding a gotek, but that probably would be better in the 1200. I have been looking into getting a flash drive for the 1200 too, but then I see I cant use whdload on a stock machine, always needing more memory, accelerator, etc. All expensive items, for 2 old computers that are probably going to be stored again in the near future. For 50£ I could set up a pi with none of the issues of running this old hardware, will have to see if it's worth doing that instead.

[mastersetter]

Vampire is nice but really way too expensive for what I want or need to be honest.

[mastersetter]

Indeed, I have looked at the options. I will look at recapping my 1200 board, & then repack both away safe for another 20yrs To get the 500 going I need a floppy drive -20£ or gotek-30£. The 1200 needs a ram expansion to be of use, then another 40£ for a compact flash drive, it's just not worth investing in the hardware, when I can get a pi3, setup & running, with high performance, for around 50-60£, hard to ignore that really.. far more cost effective at the moment. If that works out I would get rid of the 1200 and keep the 500+ as it's more sentimental to me.