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Connecting 3" drive to PC for image writing

M

musicforlife

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So I have both 6128 and recently acquired FD-1/DDI-1 external drive for my 464. There are few games which requires direct writing from image to disk in order for them to work so what would be easiest method? I have found an adapter set to connect internal 3" drive to PC but since I have FD-1 I really hope I could use it directly instead of disassembling internal drive each time for image writing. The FD-1 has 34-pin connector but is it compatible with basic PC floppy connector? If not, how could I make an adapter to make it work? With just a cable it would be so much easier to use FD-1 instead of needing to extract internal drive out each time.

I tried but couldn't find any info about the FD-1's 34-pin connector pinout.

EDIT: So there's 5 volts going from FD-1 to DDI which needs to be disconnected if used without?

 
Last edited:
GeoffB17 said:
Check the doc linked here:


This may help.

I've used this cable to connect the std PCW connector for 3" disk on my PCW to a standard 3.5" drive, and it works fine apart from the disk ready signal, but a manual fix for this problem is included in the article and this works fine when required.

Geoff
Click to expand...

I already know and there's ready made cables available on ebay but what I wanted was to find out FD-1 pinout since it has identical connector to normal floppy but I couldn't find any info of the pinout. Not even manual has them.

Chuck(G) said:
Watch out for the power connection! The +12 and +5 lines are swapped from a standard 3.5" drive.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I also discovered this quirk reading on web.
 
The FD1's 34 way connector should be an edge connector - It's the same as a normal floppy drive as pins go - but isn't a header connector.

If you have a ribbon cable, you can just crimp a IDC 34 way connector onto it and stick it straight onto a Greaseweazle most likely - it should be set up as Drive B, but I can't remember if the cable is swapped.

It needs power, but you can power it from the Amstrad PSU.

I'll check my Amstrad external drive for reference.

<Checking> <Some time later...>

OK, The FD-1 has it's own PSU. It has an exposed 34 pin header at the back. Just use a normal 34 pin floppy cable with your Greaseweazle. I haven't tested mine, but it should plug right up. There might be some issues around select and motor enable, but the Greaseweazle should handle it.
 
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