Thread
Installing a modern floppy into an SE/30
Hi,
Just as a personal milestone, I want to share one experience I just did!
I had my SE/30 with a failed floppy disk. On another side, I had a Performa 63xx that I had problems with for a while. So, I used this computer has parts. I used the CD drive to put into a performa 6115CD (without a CD) and was left with the other parts.
One of them was the floppy. While my SE/30 case was open, I added memory to it (128 meg!) and attached the floppy of the performa into it, leaving it on the desk for a test. It booted successfully from a 6.0.8 floppy boot disk. So, I realise that this drive was a good replacement part for my SE/30 floppy.
The problem here is the auto-inject part of the drive. Once you install the drive into the SE/30 case as is, the disk slot is just a bit lower than the hole in the SE/30 case. So I pry one of the screw holder in the front so the drive would fit lightly up from the front. And it is working! While inserting a disk into it is a bit more difficult, I have to push a little bit farther into the slot to insert it, the eject is working as if it was an original SE/30 floppy.
So, nothing very spectacular, but that's a way to make an older Mac working as if it was new!
Just as a personal milestone, I want to share one experience I just did!
I had my SE/30 with a failed floppy disk. On another side, I had a Performa 63xx that I had problems with for a while. So, I used this computer has parts. I used the CD drive to put into a performa 6115CD (without a CD) and was left with the other parts.
One of them was the floppy. While my SE/30 case was open, I added memory to it (128 meg!) and attached the floppy of the performa into it, leaving it on the desk for a test. It booted successfully from a 6.0.8 floppy boot disk. So, I realise that this drive was a good replacement part for my SE/30 floppy.
The problem here is the auto-inject part of the drive. Once you install the drive into the SE/30 case as is, the disk slot is just a bit lower than the hole in the SE/30 case. So I pry one of the screw holder in the front so the drive would fit lightly up from the front. And it is working! While inserting a disk into it is a bit more difficult, I have to push a little bit farther into the slot to insert it, the eject is working as if it was an original SE/30 floppy.
So, nothing very spectacular, but that's a way to make an older Mac working as if it was new!
I assumed you removed the black "dust door" of the floppy drive before mounting it in your SE/30?
Any photos of your handiwork?
Any photos of your handiwork?
No need to remove the black door, it work with it as is.I assumed you removed the black "dust door" of the floppy drive before mounting it in your SE/30?
Any photos of your handiwork?
Obviously I should have taken picture before closing the case, but I did not. Shame on me!
I too own an SE/30 and a few years ago I ordered a replacement internal 1.4MB floppy drive. The seller shipped me a newer black-dust-door type drive by accident. They later shipped me a proper replacement (the style made for the SE/30) and I am currently still using that drive. But I never thought that the black-dust-door models would work without problem (injecting and ejecting in the same manner). So I appreciate hearing your story that it works. That's also why I was curious to see your photos so I could do the same in the future, if I ever need to swap out the internal drive again.
In fact, the trick is very simple:
There is 2 screws that hold the drive in the front. One side of it is in a solid metal enclosure from top to bottom, but the other side is some kind of eyelet that is movable. So I use a grip to force up the enclosure. The trick is to make the eyelet so that it is at the same height as the top metal enclosure. Then I screw the drive in place with only 3 screws well tighten. I could also have make an hole on the other side for another screw, but if you don't force the disk in or out, 3 should be more than enough to maintain it in place.
I'll try to see if I can take picture of it without having to remove all the drive enclosure. But it was quite simple. When I insert the disk in, we can see that the drive is not perfectly horizontal, there is a small inclination to the floppy, but it work quite well!
There is 2 screws that hold the drive in the front. One side of it is in a solid metal enclosure from top to bottom, but the other side is some kind of eyelet that is movable. So I use a grip to force up the enclosure. The trick is to make the eyelet so that it is at the same height as the top metal enclosure. Then I screw the drive in place with only 3 screws well tighten. I could also have make an hole on the other side for another screw, but if you don't force the disk in or out, 3 should be more than enough to maintain it in place.
I'll try to see if I can take picture of it without having to remove all the drive enclosure. But it was quite simple. When I insert the disk in, we can see that the drive is not perfectly horizontal, there is a small inclination to the floppy, but it work quite well!