internal USB 2.0 3.5" floppy drives?

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dan
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internal USB 2.0 3.5" floppy drives?

Post by dan » Tue Jun 15, 2004 10:26 pm

there are plenty of *external* USB 2.0 3.5" floppy drives out there, but are there any internal USB 2.0 3.5" floppy drives?

there are several advantages an internal usb 2.0 floppy drive may have over a 1980's ps/2 connection

1- thinner cables, better airflow
2- some motherboards do not come with the antique floppy drive connector
3- the floppy drive can draw all power from usb, freeing the proprietary 3.5" floppy power cable to do something else.
4- some PSU do not come with the floppy power cable
5- some usb 2.0 external floppy drives perform 2x even 4x faster, so an internal one should perform 2x or even 4x faster
6- it should be possible to include a media card reader and even front usb ports all tapping off the usb 2.0 headers
7- frees up an irq

PhilgB
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Post by PhilgB » Tue Jun 15, 2004 11:26 pm

If it doesn't exist.. its LONG overdue. Even with usb1.1....
Hopefully someone has found one.

silvervarg
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Post by silvervarg » Wed Jun 16, 2004 3:54 am

Dan:
the floppy drive can draw all power from usb
Are you sure about this?
If I remember the specs correctly USB must provide 5V, 100mA. That is 0.5W only. A typical floppy draws 3-5W during operation and probably more when it just starts up.

quksilver
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Post by quksilver » Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:36 am

Oh, I know Mitsumi makes something like this, let me see if I can find it on their web page...ahh here it is, model# FA402A, an internal USB1.1 floppy drive and 7in1 memory card reader.

http://www.mitsumi.com/products/fa402amain.html

Also found a link to one by Y-E Data, model# YD-8V07. And it's USB2!

http://www.yedata.com/products/cardread ... in-1.shtml

quksilver
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Post by quksilver » Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:36 am

My mistake, the Mitsumi is USB 2 as well!

PhilgB
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Post by PhilgB » Wed Jun 16, 2004 5:21 am

Im pretty sure both still use the standard floppy connection though. The USB is only for the card reader.

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Wed Jun 16, 2004 5:48 am

PhilgB wrote:Im pretty sure both still use the standard floppy connection though. The USB is only for the card reader.
Correctamundo.


Pic of the back of the Y-E USB FDD shows standard 34 pin connector.

And the Spec sheet for the Mitsumi FDD states:
Mitsumi Spec Sheet wrote:♦ interface
FDD: 34-pins standard interface


Bummer, man.

quksilver
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Post by quksilver » Wed Jun 16, 2004 5:55 am

Ahh, it would seem you are correct, they still require the floppy data and power cables. That's disappointing.

CRT_Leech
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USB 2.0 only (no 34 pin cable), internal and external FDD's

Post by CRT_Leech » Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:23 am

Here's one that is internal USB 2.0, with card readers: http://tekgems.com/Products/et-10133-fdd-blk-fa404m.htm

Here's a couple externals:

http://www.storagebysony.com/reseller/m ... 2_data.pdf

http://www.cleansweepsupply.com/pages/s ... 29775.html

They all are one cable solutions, the one cable being the USB 2.0 cable.

You could take an external USB drive and probably mod it so that it would fit internally, maybe using an old floppy drive chassis and mounting the USB 2.0 drive to that.

You'll have an extra bonus if your motherboard supports booting from USB, too.

dan
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Post by dan » Thu Jun 17, 2004 6:25 pm

the one use floppy drives still have, believe it or not, is that some schools and a lot of libraries the only easy way to save data is floppy disk. (it is often not possilbe to save on desktop then attach file to mail)


--- the Niles Public library in Niles Il, still use pentium 200 running windows 95. no usb, monitor screens all burned in, etc.

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