IBM PS/2 Model 70 or compatible floppy drive wanted (Or help with current one?)

[Bill Degnan]

On Sun, Jun 30, 2019 at 5:33 AM Gary Sparkes via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:

> It... seems to be working reliably again now.
>
> I'd still be interested in finding a spare/compatible, even if it's a bare
> drive without the card edge connector, but somehow now that i've been
> prodding it and doing absolutely nothing different other than booting off
> it a few times, it seems to be operating just fine under DOS 5
>
> On Sun, Jun 30, 2019 at 5:15 AM Gary Sparkes <mokuba at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hey all, i'm having a fair amount of trouble with my PS/2's floppy
> > drive... wanted to back up my BBS and none of the disks i put in would
> read
> > or format!
> >
> > Oddly though, it WILL boot a disk that's inserted on power-on.
> >
> > I hear it try and hit the disk a few times while in dos repeatedly before
> > failing with the R/A/F options ... and format tries to read it, then goes
> > attempts to format it, and can't find sector 0 .....
> >
> > I'm really confused about those symptoms since it boots the only bootable
> > disk I had on hand - ironically spinrite 6 (I'm aware of how useful it
> > is...) - so i'm looking at replacing it ... or figuring out what's wrong
> > with it that it can boot a disk just fine, but not use one while in DOS ?
> >
> >
> > .... and by wiggling the floppy a bit I just got it to format a disk
> while
> > in the ... drive, and now it's making the noise it did before and
> stalling
> > occasionally.
> >
> > Perhaps the disk just isn't catching fully?
> >
> > --
> > Gary G. Sparkes Jr.
> > KB3HAG
> >
>
>
>
>
It could be that you need to "grease the skids".  I'd try a cleaning and
re-grease moving parts (although there are less because they don't auto
eject like a MAC of the era.  Observe the operation of the drive with the
cover removed..

I have to check but I think there is a "regular" 3.5 to PS/2 drive adapter
around, someone selling one?  IIRC the PS/2's need a power line (or two)
merged into pin X (?).  It may be worth it to investigate the possibility
of buying or making an adapter as these PS/2 drives are becoming hard to
find.

Bill