It's MO time ☺

[jmacz]

I'd say they're just a hair thicker than a floppy disk. They still fit through the stock floppy opening with the tiniest bit of clearance, but just barely.

Hmm, I guess if I cannot control myself and do obtain one of these, I will need to see if I can get it fitted in the empty slot on my IIfx.

I was checking eBay and one of the listings for a 2.3GB version said it can only read from the smaller 128/230MB size disks? Is that all drives or maybe just this one drive? or the seller is wrong?

 

[olePigeon]

@jmacz I have a IIfx and MO disks. I can test the clearance for you. But since the IIfx is designed for auto-inject, it may be difficult to insert an MO disk.

Seller is wrong about the drive. The 2.3GB drive is fully backwards compatible with earlier 3.5-inch MO disks (640, 540, 230 and 128MB)

 

[jmacz]

@jmacz I have a IIfx and MO disks. I can test the clearance for you. But since the IIfx is designed for auto-inject, it may be difficult to insert an MO disk.

Seller is wrong about the drive. The 2.3GB drive is fully backwards compatible with earlier 3.5-inch MO disks (640, 540, 230 and 128MB)

Great thanks.

I think your video mentioned that the Fujitsu's have some metal piece in the front that makes it difficult to fit within the LC case you were using? I'm curious whether the whole front bezel of the Fujitsu drive can be removed so that I can get a flusher fit in the IIfx thereby resolving the insert issue?

 

[olePigeon]

@jmacz So I did some fiddling with the MO drive. Even if the metal bracket for the MO's bezel is removed (or rather, bent out of the way because it's easy to bend) and it's able to sit flush with the Mac's bezel, it's still not enough. The physical thickness of the bezel itself is thicker than the minimum distance required to insert the disk.

You really need the cutout for fingers like it has for its own bezel, or in Macs with manual inject floppies.

It's still possible, mind you. And it ejects fine. It's just a bit of a pain to have to really squish your finger in there to get a disk in.

Also, the clearance is more than enough for an MO disk. They can be inserted and removed with room to spare.

However, I can only confirm this is the case with the 2.3 GB Fujitsu and the 230 MB Pinnacle, as those are the only 2 types of drives that I have. It's possible there's a different brand out there that can accept disks from further out, making them suitable for a Mac with an auto-inject floppy bezel.

 

[jmacz]

Ah, got it. Well, I'm definitely not going to be cutting into my IIfx case. If it doesn't work inside, then I'll just put it into an external enclosure I guess.

 

[MrFahrenheit]

You could always keep something handy to push the disks in the "rest of the way" beyond what you can insert with just your finger. Like a little plastic tool.

 

[jmacz]

Oh, I misunderstood/misread, I thought it would be fine to insert but a pain to pull out. If eject is ok and it’s just pushing in, same question as @MrFahrenheit .. can you just use a little tool?

 

[olePigeon]

@jmacz Yeah, it ejects just fine with plenty of room to pull the disk out, but is difficult to push in. See my video. Any sort of tool would work to push it in. I mean, I'm able to get the disk in by pushing with my finger, but I have to really jam it in there. I have fat, stubby fingers, so maybe you can push yours in just fine.

 

[jmacz]

@jmacz Yeah, it ejects just fine with plenty of room to pull the disk out, but is difficult to push in. See my video. Any sort of tool would work to push it in. I mean, I'm able to get the disk in by pushing with my finger, but I have to really jam it in there. I have fat, stubby fingers, so maybe you can push yours in just fine.

Got it, thanks!

 

[MrFahrenheit]

Got it, thanks!

When you're done, @jmacz , you need to do a little video showing off the mod!

 

[Byrd]

Most of the warez servers back in the day were hidden at universities because of the bandwidth.

I had a lovely time on university campus using Napster, Kazaa downloading Linux ISOs on a AST 486 then early Toshiba Pentium laptop. Your comment makes me think it probably was hosted very locally as it hammered through.

Amusingly neither laptop could keep up with the bandwidth so I used to step away and allow the hard disk to thrash hard before settling down for another round.

 

[jmacz]

When you're done, @jmacz , you need to do a little video showing off the mod!

Will do, although it sounds very straightforward so might not be much to share. although I probably just jinxed myself. I have a 2.3gb Fujitsu on the way. I don’t think I needed it but @SophieRose is right, it just seems so cool, I couldn’t resist. I am envious of those of you who picked up these drives cheap years ago.

 

[TonyJay]

I have a Fujitsu MO drive that slides into Powerbook 3400 or 5300, much like the Zip drives did (which I also have). Not sure if they are rare, but have never seen one for sale on eBay. I remember buying the MO drive as I wanted to store archival photographs, but realized as the resolution I was using, produced files that were too large to make the small MO discs really practical. So I have about 5 or 6 that I never even opened. Cool for sure.

 

[jmacz]

I have a Fujitsu MO drive that slides into Powerbook 3400 or 5300

That’s cool! I have a Zip for the 5300 but it’s having some issues. Still need to debug that at some point.

 

[TonyJay]

That’s cool! I have a Zip for the 5300 but it’s having some issues. Still need to debug that at some point.

I have not tried mine for many years but perhaps should as I have been taking PRAMs out of the 3400s I had stored, so they are there to use for the Zip drives. Using them occasional probably good to keep lubricated parts from seizing. I am not sure if these Zip drives had belts or were direct drive... I have fixed a number of Atari 8bit drives and the belts turned into black goo after 40 years. Terrible mess. Good luck on debugging

 

[MrFahrenheit]

I have a Fujitsu MO drive that slides into Powerbook 3400 or 5300, much like the Zip drives did (which I also have). Not sure if they are rare, but have never seen one for sale on eBay. I remember buying the MO drive as I wanted to store archival photographs, but realized as the resolution I was using, produced files that were too large to make the small MO discs really practical. So I have about 5 or 6 that I never even opened. Cool for sure.

These are pretty rare. I’ve kept an eye on eBay for a few years and only seen these pop up twice. Both times in a laptop and not on their own.

 

[MrFahrenheit]

If anyone is looking for some 2.3GB blank media, this listing on eBay is the cheapest I’ve seen them in years:

Fujitsu Dynamo 2.3GB rewritable magneto optical disk 5pk new sealed | eBay

New sealed Fujitsu Dynamo 2.3GB rewritable magneto optical disks 5pk. 388811. 3.5" rewritable magneto-optical disk(unformatted)

www.ebay.com

That’s about $8/disc. In 2021 when I got into these, the cheapest was $20/disc. And I hadn’t found anything much cheaper since.

 

[olePigeon]

That's the cheapest I've seen 2.3GBs in a long while, probably why they're selling fast. I payed $5 per disk for mine a few years ago.

 

[TonyJay]

These are pretty rare. I’ve kept an eye on eBay for a few years and only seen these pop up twice. Both times in a laptop and not on their own.

I thought I would grab and see what was actually in the box... it has been more than a decade since I last opened. Some may enjoy unboxing images of a pristine MO drive from 27 years ago - when storage needs were not as high. Notable is that this drive inserted into PB3400/5300s and was only 230 MB. That was double Zip storage of 100 MB but still these were relatively small capacity. I tested one of the disks at the time, and remember thinking it was about same speed as the Zip. As mentioned, I wanted to store photos 'forever' and MO seemed the way to go. But 230 MB was not enough space to make this a practical solution.

The drive I bought in 2001, so 5 years after its production in 1996. I had it shipped from the Netherlands. There was an instruction manual and also for some reason, there was an included SCSI manager software. I can't recall if this was needed for the drive to work or I just stuffed the software in the box. The drive was sealed in its original anti static package, with a protective plastic storage sleeve. It really looks just like a Zip drive from the outside. I did not really use it, so no wonder it looks new.

 

[jmacz]

Are there special drivers needed for these MO drives? (Fujitsu in particular as I just picked one up - haven't tried it yet though).