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What is the best 1.4MB floppy money can buy for the Mac?
- Thread starter pizzigri
- Start date
Floppy drive-wise, it depends on the Mac. Nubus PowerMacs and older Macs can use either the manual inject or auto-inject FDHD mechanisms. PCI PowerMacs and the beige G3 machines need the manual-inject drives.
The manual-inject drives will work in the older auto-inject drive computers, but you'll need a tool or something thin and stiff to push the disk in all the way. Less of an issue with the later computer cases and the earlier drives. Either way, the paperclip hole will be in the wrong position.
To answer your question, the Sony MP-F75W drives are all pretty much similar. The sensor switches were improved on later versions, but I've usually had no issues with the early switches. So, I'd try to find the best condition drive and use that. They're also suitable replacements for the 800K drives used on the 512Ke, Plus, early SE, and early Mac II, as well as the 800K external or the A9M0106 Apple 3.5 Drive. On the 512Ke and Plus, a cable with the red stripe must be used, however.
A better solution might be either what @Phipli mentions or a Zip drive. Or, a PowerMac G3 or G4 with an Adaptec SCSI card, then an external hard drive that can have files saved to it. Use that to install software on older Macs.
The manual-inject drives will work in the older auto-inject drive computers, but you'll need a tool or something thin and stiff to push the disk in all the way. Less of an issue with the later computer cases and the earlier drives. Either way, the paperclip hole will be in the wrong position.
To answer your question, the Sony MP-F75W drives are all pretty much similar. The sensor switches were improved on later versions, but I've usually had no issues with the early switches. So, I'd try to find the best condition drive and use that. They're also suitable replacements for the 800K drives used on the 512Ke, Plus, early SE, and early Mac II, as well as the 800K external or the A9M0106 Apple 3.5 Drive. On the 512Ke and Plus, a cable with the red stripe must be used, however.
A better solution might be either what @Phipli mentions or a Zip drive. Or, a PowerMac G3 or G4 with an Adaptec SCSI card, then an external hard drive that can have files saved to it. Use that to install software on older Macs.
The heights are slightly off too, you can put a washer under a drive to fit new to old, but... putting an old drive in a newer machine means scraping the disk over the bezel.
If you have a computer with IDE or USB and you don't need access to 800K disks, then the Imation LS-120 SuperDisk is a fantastic drive. It's very fast as a regular floppy drive, and does a better job at reading potentially damaged disks. It also has its own media with a capacity of 120MBs. There's a much rarer LS-240 drive that also has the capability to format regular floppies to 10MBs, but they're only useable on LS-240 drives.
For a "money is no object" floppy drive, the AEHD+ (important that it's the PLUS version) drive by Applied Engineering and the Kennect Technologies Rapport Drive (with the important adapter) are the bee's knees. They're 1.44MB drives that will work on even a Macintosh 512K by using a combination of special software and hardware. The down side is that you need a computer with an external floppy connector. Although, I suppose it's theoretically possible to make a custom bracket and mount them internally in a machine that supports manual inject drives. But I would avoid that.
For a "money is no object" floppy drive, the AEHD+ (important that it's the PLUS version) drive by Applied Engineering and the Kennect Technologies Rapport Drive (with the important adapter) are the bee's knees. They're 1.44MB drives that will work on even a Macintosh 512K by using a combination of special software and hardware. The down side is that you need a computer with an external floppy connector. Although, I suppose it's theoretically possible to make a custom bracket and mount them internally in a machine that supports manual inject drives. But I would avoid that.
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