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Got MO?

olePigeon

Well-known member
Just got back from a local auction. Picked up nearly 500 230MB LaserByte brand magneto optical discs for what I think is a phenomenal price. I think I'm set for life. :LOL:

These should be great for system and software install discs. I loved what @MrFahrenheit did with his, and I have a bunch of leftover floppy disk labels. It's what inspired me to go look for additional MO discs in the first place. I have an extra external Fujitsu 230MB MO drive, so should be a great match.

mo02.jpg
mo01.jpg
 

MrFahrenheit

Well-known member
That's really cool! Disks for life.

I can relate to that. I have a similar quantity of a variety of capacities. All 3.5". ENJOY!!!
 

CC_333

Well-known member
Wow! You two are becoming a regular duopoly in the MO disk market, aren't you? :lol:

I'm thinking I want a piece of the action now! Do either of you have any suggestions as to what mechanisms I should get?

c
 

olePigeon

Well-known member
@CC_333 I couldn't tell you if there's a bad brand or not, I've only ever owned Fujitsu, so I don't have a comparison. eBay tends to have used & new Fujitsu 2.3GB drives that show up in waves out of China. They were as cheap as $75 a drive at one point when I bought mine a couple years back, though the ones currently listed are about $150+. However, I do see them for around $100 every now and then, especially when a new bulk auction is put up. The 1.3GB drives seem to be hovering around the $75 price point now.

You can always buy a larger capacity drive because they're backwards compatible with smaller capacity media. It might be worth just getting a 1.3GB drive or even a 640MB drive if you can get one for cheap because finding affordable 2.3GB media will be difficult. Definitely 640MB at the minimum. Plus, it's at the sweet spot: just the right size to duplicate a CD to a single 3.5" MO disk.

There're also 5.25" MO drives and media. The 5.25" media appears to be still relatively affordable. The drives, on the other hand seem to be much more expensive. I think because there may still be a strong aftermarket for 5.25" MO drives. I see a lot of it sold for medical archival stuff.
 

Unknown_K

Well-known member
MO media is very reliable. I have one of the 3.5" Fujitsu drives and a few disks but most of mine are the 5.25" variety and I have a few drives for them.
 

olePigeon

Well-known member
So I thought at first these disks were defective because I was having issues getting them to read on my Fujitsu drive, but not on my old Olympus 230 drive. Until I noticed something ... my Fujitsu drive is mounted vertically, while the Olympus drive is in profile position. Sure enough, when I put the Fujitsu drive flat, the disks had no issues.

I looked closely at the disks and compared them to my Fujitsu brand 230 disks. I didn't notice anything at first, but then I noticed that the Fujitsu disks are polished smooth on the inside. These Laserbyte disks are not. Early MO drives were almost always in profile. I don't know who was the first to do vertical oriented drives. Probably Fujitsu or Sony.
 
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