Re: AE 3.5 drive and other non-Sony 3.5 mechanisms

[lee@lcremeans.erols.com (Lee Cremeans)]

In article <393B0B10.CA7114E5@intergate.bc.ca>, Wayne Stewart wrote:
>The AE HD 3.5" drive I have has a Sony mechanism in it but it's definetly a
>different
>one from any used with any Apple II or Macintosh drive I've ever seen. For
>starters
>this Sony mechanism has a 34 pin connector as opposed to the 20 pin used in the
>
>Apple drives I'm familiar with.
>This is a Sony model MP-F17W-5PF mechanism. If anyones familiar with this
>model, maybe they can tell me what the 4 position switch is for at the rear
>right
>hand side of the internal drive mechanism? It's marked 0 to 3.

That's pretty simple; this is a slightly-modified PC-compatible floppy drive
(the 34-pin bus is the giveaway).[1] The switch you see is the "drive
select" switch; it's usually set to 1 on PCs. If AE had it set to something,
you should probably leave it there.

-lee

[1] The "new" Apple internal floppies are actually made like PC floppies as
well, by either Sony or Mitsubishi depending on which newer Mac you have. My
LC475 has a Sony, the Power Mac 8600 at work has a Mitsubishi. They still
have 20-pin Mac connectors on them, though.

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|      Lee Cremeans -- Manassas, VA, USA  (WakkyMouse on WTnet)      |  
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