Micropolis drives (was: Micro-Expander disks

From: Don Maslin <donm_at_cts.com>
Date: Tue Apr 17 15:02:40 2001

On 17 Apr 2001, Frank McConnell wrote:

> "Fred Cisin (XenoSoft)" <cisin_at_xenosoft.com> wrote:
> > On 16 Apr 2001, Frank McConnell wrote:
> > > Hmm, here I sit looking at one of a pair of Micropolis model 1115-VI.
> > > It's a 5.25" full-height drive, serial 0372. Someone (not me) helpfully
> > > wrote on it with a marker:
>
> > They might be right. I had heard that Micropolis came out later with a
> > 96TPI, but I've never seen it. The date code and the double sided is
> > consistent with that. Is it really 2 sided? What kind of door assembly
> > does it have?
>
> Looking at it from the front, it looks like a typical full-height
> Tandon as seen in an IBM PC or Shugart drive. Flat door, closes down
> over center of slot. A printed-circuit board covers the top of the
> drive. I think there are two sets of head leads that disappear into
> the interior. The door, when closed, has a flange that pokes through
> a slot in the board to interrupt an optical emitter/sensor pair.

I have two 100 tpi drives, a Tandon with an inoperable head and a
Micropolis (I think - machine dismantling required to check). Both of
these drives carry a sticker on the bottom edge of the door that
identify them as 100 tpi. Of course, such stickers are notorious for
falling off also!

                                                 - don

 
> What's funny is that the top hub appears to be fixed. The bottom hub is
> mounted to a sort of sub-frame that pretty much covers the bottom of
> the drive, and it pivots (drive shaft, drive motor and all) about the
> middle of the outer frame as you close the door.
>
> Of course, this makes looking into the interior of the drive more fun
> than usual, because it's completely surrounded by stuff.
>
> > But they might be mistaken, and have ASSUMED 96TPI due to it not being
> > 48TPI, and/or having about 80 tracks. I've even seen people label 720K
> > 5.25" drives as being 1/2M, "because it's NOT a 360K".
>
> Yep, that is what you got me thinking.
>
> -Frank McConnell
>
Received on Tue Apr 17 2001 - 15:02:40 BST

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