Apple Floppy Drive Cardboard Insert for 128k Computer?

I'm re-reading my 3rd Edition Mac Bible (1990) and they make mention of the yellow plastic protector. They specifically say not to use it on SuperDrives, which park their heads when there's no disk inside.

Do SuperDrives have their heads "sticking out" when there's a disk inside, even if turned off? That could be why you're not meant to move the drive with the yellow disk (or any disk) inside it.

This Mac 128k auction has a photo that shows the yellow plastic insert sitting inside the Mac, apparently being used in the stock 400k drive. Of course, this is by no means "evidence" of the yellow disk having been used in 1984.

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Yes, cuchi6869 also breaks the current record for a BIN price of $1,684.09. However, it is a nice example for a collector and seems to be complete. Also (and perhaps more importantly) it is an auction that will allow the market to set the price. I will be watching closely to see how high the reserve is set though.

You will note that he actually answered the floppy disk question: "All the early Macs shipped with this yellow floppy-drive protector. This one is likely not original to this specific Mac." Ah such honesty is refreshing on eBay.

By logical deduction, I must conclude that the original Mac 128k did not ship with that yellow disk. My reasoning is that the yellow disk has a slightly "curved" area on both sides where the curved head is suppose to go. The very fact that this is "curved" presents a problem. For on the 400k drives, there is a single head on one end and on the opposite side there is a "flat" felt pad. Did Apple really make that yellow insert for such a single sided drive, where the flat felt pad would ram up against a curved surface?

For that reason alone, I think it is just not possible that this yellow insert was used on the 128k. But the other consideration is, 800k double-sided 3.5" drives didn't exist in 1983 when Apple was preparing to launch the Mac (to ship in January 1984 would mean anything included with the Mac would have had to have been prepared in 1983). So the fact that the yellow disk is specifically made for drives with 2 heads also proves the point in my mind.

By the question I have is, what kind of insert did Apple use for the 128k. Or did they at all?

UPDATE: The yellow plastic disk is mentioned about 40% of the way through RetroMacCast Episode 102. The guest appearing on this episode says he recalls being told by his Apple dealer that using the disk would damage the heads on SuperDrives (as we mention here in this thread). Unfortunately, no additional information is revealed.

And this is how this kind of confusion gets perpetrated. A presumed "expert" lists an Auction on eBay for 128K, 512K & Plus, Yellow Floppy Disk insert as a "400K and 800K Disk Drive Protector/Transport Disk". Notice he fails to include the SE & Mac II which also shipped with 800K drives. Though the 128K NEVER did (but the mere mention of the name sure brings in the dollars). At least he doesn't use the work "rare". :beige:

But damn if danapplemacman doesn't take gorgeous pictures of even a sterile floppy disk insert! LOL

FWIW - It's been a long time and memory isn't infallible, but I don't remember any shipping insert in the Apple 400K floppy drives. There WAS a cardboard insert in one of my 3rd party 800K drives. There was a yellow insert in the Apple II 800K Unidisk, and of course in Macs when they began shipping with 800K drives.

Here we go again with another seller (influential, and with "top rated" badge no less) claiming the drive protector was used on the 128k to protect the drive during shipping:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-Macintosh-128K-512K-Disk-Drive-Protector-/200503520307?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eaef0ec33#ht_1847wt_1139

I've noticed an increase in sellers using "128K" and "512K" in the title of listings even when the item had nothing to do with them, or wasn't really intended for use with one. I think many sellers have figured out that by adding it to the listing title it brings higher bids. The floppy disk listing could be ignorance, or it could be something else. Technically speaking, if your 128K was an upgraded 512K with the 800K disk drive upgrade, you WOULD need that yellow disk insert. So the ad's not technically wrong.

...if your 128K was an upgraded... the ad's not technically wrong.

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Ah yes... IF...

By within the EBAY listing that the link in my previous post leads to, my eyes were focused exclusively upon the white-on-black text that reads, "Protected the 400K..." And that is precisely what this thread was about, to determine IF indeed the Macintosh 128k in 1984 did in fact come with that exact yellow plastic protective insert. My memory says no, it was not that exact plastic yellow disk-like insert. HENRY seems to agree. But of course, the hard evidence would come from someone who still happens to have a never-opened Mac 128k in their possession.

If you see an auction improperly using a keyword, use the "report this auction" for keyword spamming! (I don't recall the exact eBay term, but it's something like that.)

Ah, good point, I misread it. Thought it said "protects", not "protected". It's hard to say what if any keywords are actually misused. As listed, 400K might be, but then we have no real proof, except the absence of evidence, i.e. the 800K disk drive instructions specifically reference the yellow plastic insert. None of the pre-Plus era Macs mention any insert whatsoever. But good to know I can do that when the listing is specifically misrepresenting itself.

I chuckle at how one auction often inspires others:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Macintosh-Plus-800K-Yellow-Disk-Drive-Protector-/140437262079

But I will give Dan credit though. He is better educated than most on EBAY, and if you examine his listing closely you can see he is very careful to only associated the yellow disk with 800k drives. I applaud that because there is no hard evidence to say that the yellow disks were used on the 400k drives that shipped with the 128k and original 512k machines.

Once again, my memory is not perfect, but I have no recollection whatsoever of such a disk insert, yet I recall other things about my first Mac very vividly. My father brought the Macintosh 128k home in 1984, new in the box. I was 13 at the time and was given the green light to open the box. While setting up the computer, I recall many things about how I examine the Macintosh computer closely, top, bottom, front, back, sides -- peering inside the floppy drive slot, in the slits at the bottom sides and even wondering what those slits were on top. I connected the mouse, keyboard and had lots of fun with the Guided Tour floppy.

My memory of the packing material is not so vivid, which makes logical sense -- it's the stuff you quickly want to discard so you can go to playing with the product itself. However, had there been a bright, yellow, plastic, floppy-looking thingy inside the floppy drive, I have little doubt I would have retained it with the Guided Tour and other floppies, as such is ingrained within my personality. And yet, had the insert been a piece of cardboard, I might have thrown it in the original box with the rest of the packing material.

In summary, everything within me cries out to say there never was a yellow, plastic, disk insert in the Macintosh 128k, which leads me to conclude it probably wasn't used on other 400k drives either (whether internal or external). However, I would love to find someone out there who has a "rare" never-unboxed Macintosh 128k so my gut feeling can be confirmed.

However, I would love to find someone out there who has a "rare" never-unboxed Macintosh 128k so my gut feeling can be confirmed.

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Your quest for empirical evidence is admirable. However, I think you may be doomed to frustration with this one. Even if an unopened Mac 128K were to ever surface, there is no guarantee that is did not pre-date the inclusion of such an insert if it ever was included at any point, or pre-dated the exclusion of one after discovering it wasn't needed. Sadly to prove this beyond the shadow of a doubt you would need a sampling of unopened 128Ks through their production run. :beige:

But here's what I know:

None of the 128K/512K literature reference a yellow disk insert, while almost all of the Mac Plus literature does.

Out of all of the "complete" original 128K systems I have catalogued an seen sold on eBay, never once has that yellow disk insert appeared as part of an otherwise complete original package. Considering no one would have ever seen a 3.5" floppy disk before, it strikes me as odd that Apple wouldn't mention the inclusion of that insert anywhere, especially considering the otherwise thoroughly detailed manuals.

The disk insert was specifically to keep the un-parked double heads of the 800K drive separated during shipping to avoid damage, something which was not a problem on the 400K drive which had a pad opposite the single head, and therefore totally unnecessary.

I do not recall ever seeing those yellow plastic floppy inserts until the later 80s. In those early days, the 3.5" disk was brand new and something like a yellow plastic floppy insert would have, as you say made an impression as being something to keep, which is why I suspect there are so many of them still in the world today and not in landfills. As I recall, many of them ended up in floppy disk trays and boxes as separators. But I do not recall ever seeing one during the first two years of the 128K & 512K existence. In those days, almost all the disks were those beige Apple floppy disks and a bright yellow one would have definitely stuck out.

Now whether there was a cardboard insert or not is another story. However, I also find that odd that if they ever existed, not a single one of them survived with the numerous complete systems that managed to store the complete packing boxes, styrofoam and other packaging. Seems like an odd omission for someone who was otherwise being so painstakingly meticulous with the rest of the packing materials.

It seems logical to assume that the insert is for 800K drives only because they are the only ones which need one. It keeps the heads from clattering against each other like castanets if the Mac is jarred. 400K drives have only one head with a felt pad to press the disk against it. The head would not be damaged by chattering against the pad. 1.4MB drives have a head lifter which holds the heads apart and parks them when no disk is loaded, so putting a plastic insert in would actually un-park the heads and leave them against the insert.