3.5" floppy drive in IBM XT?

From: Joe <rigdonj_at_cfl.rr.com>
Date: Mon Apr 7 21:14:13 2003

At 03:41 PM 4/7/03 -0700, you wrote:
>On Mon, 7 Apr 2003, Joe wrote:
>> I picked up an old IBM XT today and it has a 3.5" floppy drive in it
>> (and it works!) Anybody ever heard of this?
>
>Presumably, that is a 720K drive (subject to what the extra controller
>is). IBM sold internal and external 720Ks for the XT. To do it their
>way, you need PC-DOS 3.20 or newer, and need to do a DRIVER.SYS in
>CONFIG.SYS. But you could also use a 720K with certain OEM
>(NON-IBM) versions of MS-DOS 2.11.
>
>And the PC-JX (not available in U.S.) was available with 720K drives.
>
>
>> The drive has it's own
>> controller card and both it and the drive appear to be IBM parts. )I
>> haven't pulled everything apart to be sure.) FWIW the computer also
>
>Do you mean that it is NOT connected to the same controller as the
>5.25" drive?


   My mistake. It IS on the same controller. It didn't look like it till I got it apart.


>
>> has a FH 5 1/4" floppy drive and a HH 5 1/4" 10 Mb hard drive with a
>> Seagate logo on the front of it. Anybody know if this is an original
>> XT hard drive or a replacement drive? It's been so long since I've
>> seen an original XT with the 10 Mb drive that I don't remember much
>> about it.
>Which model Seagate? It is likely to be an aftermarket drive.

     I expect that you're right. But it definitely appears to be connected an an IBM controller card. Interesting tidbit; the controller has BOTH data cables installed on it even though there's only one hard drive. The cables are stacked one on top of the other and taped together. I think this is the only time that I've ever seen a controller that came with two data cables.

    FINALLY got the drive out! Two screws on the side (inside side, of course!) had backed out partially and jammed it up good. The drive is a ST 238R (32Mb) so it's definitely not an original drive.

      Joe

>
>--
>Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin_at_xenosoft.com
Received on Mon Apr 07 2003 - 21:14:13 BST