19 Aug
2004
19 Aug
'04
5:28 a.m.
On Aug 19 2004, 11:10, Jules Richardson wrote:
Hmm, my first ever floptical drive just landed on the doorstep
amongst a
pile of hardware. Never seen one before now, and it
seems there's
very
little info on the web about the technology.
I assume that although it'll (probably) read/write normal 3.5" floppy
disks, it needs special media to reach the 21MB that I keep on seeing
quoted in various places? (i.e. it can't reach that figure combining
the
optical tracking technology that it uses with standard
magnetic
media)
(the drive's an Insite I 325VM, likely culled from an SGI I think)
Yes, it will read normal 3.5" floppies (at least HD and possibly DD),
and yes it needs special floptical media to do 20MB. Good luck finding
the media. I have some but I'm keeping it for my flopticals.
Do keep the drive clean. My experience is that they're vey prone to
dying (and trashing disks) if they get too dusty.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
19 Aug
19 Aug
7:43 a.m.
On Thu, 2004-08-19 at 17:28, Pete Turnbull wrote:
Good luck finding the media. I have some but I'm
keeping
it for my flopticals.
It's a funny old world and all that. This afternoon I went to pick up a
few stray bits of hardware from someone, and without my mentioning it
first, they happened to say that they thought they had a floptical drive
and some media going spare. Always amazes me how often things like that
happen.
I'll let the list know if it does pan out, as the main reason I'd hang
onto the drive I've got is in case I ever find any floptical media that
I need to read; I'm not going to actually use the drive otherwise. So
there may be media spare sometime soon for anyone who needs it...
Do keep the drive clean. My experience is that
they're vey
prone to dying (and trashing disks) if they get too dusty.
Ta for the tip. This one's really grubby; I think it's just sat in a
loft for most of its life.
cheers
Jules
11:37 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pete Turnbull" <pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2004 1:28 PM
Subject: Re: floptical drives
Do keep the drive clean. My experience is that
they're vey prone to
dying (and trashing disks) if they get too dusty.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Can you use a standard PC floppy cleaning disk (with alcohol) to clean a
floptical drive? I have a few LS-120's that get dusty from case fans that
suck air through them.
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julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk -
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