What can I replace a Mitsumi DD floppy drive with?

[piano632]

I have an old (1992) model Smith Corona word processor/typewriter that has a Mitsumi model D357B DD floppy drive in it. The drive has gone bad and I need to replace it. (Well, it lasted 13 years.) I tried a Samsung HD drive but it doesn't work (the green light stays on constantly). I'm wondering if it's going to except any HD drive. Do you think another newer Mitsumi HD would work or should I just give up? Of course, we're dealing with "ancient" technology here, so I don't want to spend big bucks.

[redwudz]

If the light stays on all the time, you may have to turn the IDE cable over. For some reason some drives have upside down sockets on the back. You may have to trim off the locater tab.

Check the back of the drive to see if there is a mark to show where pin one is. Usually the stripe on the cable is on the power connector side of the drive. I have had to reverse them on several drives. Never damaged one by having it reversed.

Other than that floppy drives are pretty much universal for the last few years. If the power connector and the IDE connector fit, the drive will probably work. Especially if it uses HD floppies.

EDIT: If you can't get it to work because of the controller, you might find a computer shop around your town that has a used DD drive for cheap.

[piano632]

Already tried turning the cable over, but then the light doesn't come on at all. Either way, it doesn't work.

[snafu099]

If by DD you mean 720 kb 3 1/2 disc and HD as 1.44 mb, then on a pc you needed to properly set it in the bios. In very old xt class pc there was a dos command to add to config.sys to set (force) drive paramitor to what you had

Possible 720kb floppy source would be an old pc. xt, 286 or 386
Some of the transition floppies had a jumper that could be set.

I have alot of old stuff lying around and may have what you need including some 5 1/4 floppies

[greymalkin]

did you get on the internet with that thing!!!???

I jest of course...but seriously, what are your reasons for using this standalone word processor rather than a pc? Just curious.

[piano632]

Yes, it's 3.5" Double Density 720KB. I'm gonna hafta see if this old drive works in a PC just to be sure it's the drive and not something else.

I only use it 'cause it's a lot easier to cart around than a PC & monitor. Sort of a poor man's laptop . See how ancient 13 years is in the computer world? If laptops weren't so expensive, I'd buy one of those.

[Prot]

I doubt the HD drive will work in your system. If it had a DD drive, you will need to replace it with a DD drive. The controller circuitry will VERY likely not support the HD drive, no matter if you only use DD diskettes....assuming you can even find those nowadays.

[greymalkin]

did you check the world wide garage sale (e-bay)?

I understand about the price of laptops...if you just need word processing theres no need to spend 1,000+...and you don't have to worry about viruses, spyware, blue screens..etc...

[castelodumnos]

I have an old (1992) model Smith Corona word processor/typewriter that has a Mitsumi model D357B DD floppy drive in it. The drive has gone bad and I need to replace it. (Well, it lasted 13 years.) I tried a Samsung HD drive but it doesn't work (the green light stays on constantly). I'm wondering if it's going to except any HD drive. Do you think another newer Mitsumi HD would work or should I just give up? Of course, we're dealing with "ancient" technology here, so I don't want to spend big bucks.

I have recently bought over e-Bay a Smith-Corona PWP 3500 typewriter (for the same reasons as you, i.e. a laptop is too expensive for me, plus the reason that this Word-Processor-Calc-Mailing-system comes ALSO with a printing system in the same case !) and it appears that I have got EXACTLY the same problem !

My diagnostic is that the motor belt was too loose to drive the floppy's plate.

So you should change it.

I had no possibility to change the motor belt, so I have shortened it a few millimiters (that is to say a tenth of an inch, or two), bringing one end of the belt toward the other and using some kind of instant glue to fix it with a little piece of VERY light paper over it, on the external side of the belt. It could function for a couple of minutes before it failed to read correctly again.

I have then made a NEW belt from an elastic rubber taken out from a kind of surgeon mask used to protect from dust when doing some wooden stuff in the garage. This mask came with that kind of flat elastic rubber that is not very tight, and which was nearly twice as large as the original belt. I have cut this elastic rubber the same length as the shortened original belt, and, using the same technique as above, I have made a brand new motor belt to drive my diskette unit. The elastic rubber must not be too tight in order not to cause too much friction on the pulley's axis, which would cause soon or later a new failure. In order to compensate for a small tension, the elastic rubber must be large enought to engage totally the floppy's plate pulley.

It works perfectly now.

Hoping it can help, I wish you all the best.