Micro Peipherals model B51 FDDs

From: Richard Erlacher <richard_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Sun Oct 22 11:13:58 2000

First of all, there never were ANY 5-1/4" drives of any sort I've ever
encountered, that were SD, that's because the drive doesn't determine the
rlux reversal density with which the controller writes on the media, and
because the head technology, by the time 5-1/4" drives came into common
usage, would always support "double density" which relies on a more
efficient modulation technique than what's used in SD.

Secondly, if you look at the drive, you should be able to tell whether there
are two heads or just one from the cable connectors. On some drives you
may have to look where the cables come from by dismounting the board and
looking underneath, but these are often shielded cables with thin (#28 or
smaller) insulated wires in a common shield, coming from the heads. One
such cable will dome from each side of the head assembly.

MPI drives were used in the original IBM PC's, so they might look the same
as what you see in the old PC's at the junk shops. There is nothing strange
about any of the MPI drives, so, unless you have an OEM version of one sort
or another, you may safely assume the obvious.

Dick

----- Original Message -----
From: Wayne M. Smith <wmsmith_at_earthlink.net>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 21, 2000 9:21 PM
Subject: Micro Peipherals model B51 FDDs


> I recently acquired two of these 5 1/4 inch drives,
> which have the garage-door type opening (and very low
> ser. nos.). Does anyone know the specs for these
> drives? I assume they are probably SS/SD. They look
> like they may be what was used for the Atari 801. Is
> this right?
>
>
Received on Sun Oct 22 2000 - 11:13:58 BST