Re: Apple //c+ Disk Drive Repair

["Paul Grammens" <grammens@svn.net>]

"CHRIS MORSE" <chris@invalid.com> wrote in message
3ec3fa77.880695663@news.dsl.net">news:3ec3fa77.880695663@news.dsl.net...
>
> I got an Apple //c+ on eBay a while ago, and I had no 3.5" bootable
> disks, but was able to plug in an external 5.25" drive and boot from
> that.
>
> Recently, I got some 3.5" ProDOS 8 bootable disks.  I put the disk in
> the drive and booted up fine, into the ProDOS utilities program.
> Being clever, I decided that the best thing to do, right away, was to
> start making backup copies...  (I also have an external 3.5" drive
> that I plugged in.)
>
> I went to the Copy Disk function and it asked me to write-protect the
> disk before copying it.  So I did that.  While it was copying, it
> started complaining about read errors on certain tracks/sectors.  So I
> aborted the disk copy.
>
> But apparently it still corrupted the original 3.5" disk, as I can't
> boot from it anymore -- I just get an error like "UNABLE TO LOAD
> PRODOS".
>
> Anyhow, I figure there's something definitely wrong with the internal
> 3.5" drive -- is there anything I can do myself to repair or replace
> the drive?  Any Apple II shops out there that will fix it for a fee?
> I recall reading that there was a place still around-- maybe in Hawaii
> or something like that.  Can't recall though, and I didn't find
> anything (yet) in the FAQ's... still looking..
>
> If fixing myself, is there any way to replace the internal 3.5" drive
> with some Macintosh model drive?
>

You might try formatting a couple of disks with the drive. Sometimes just
exercising it over the full range will fix it.  I doubt if the drive is
actually damaged, probably just needs cleaning. The grease often gets hard
and sticky with age, so careful cleaning and sparing lubrication can get
them going again.
-Paul