I bagged an Apple 3.5in External Floppy Drive (Model A9M0106) on ebay last night for $51 AUD - it'll make restoring my Mac SE a ton easier as 800k disks are a PITA to use, you can barely fit the System 6 on a single floppy with no room for anything else. This will allow me to put utils onto a second disk and avoid disk swap hell while trying to get my SCSI-SD HDD working.
I kinda feel sorry for the 2 folks I was bidding against, I sniped the hell out of them with a max bid limit of $100 AUD with 2 seconds to go (yeah I really really wanted it).
For some reason I was thinking the SE had an internal high density floppy drive? Maybe that was a later edition of it? I know my SE/30 has an internal superdrive but that came out a bit later and was a high end machine at the time. That stuff was scary expensive back in the day.
For some reason I was thinking the SE had an internal high density floppy drive? Maybe that was a later edition of it? I know my SE/30 has an internal superdrive but that came out a bit later and was a high end machine at the time. That stuff was scary expensive back in the day.
Mine is the 800k 20 MB HD version, I think there was an FDHD version that had the high density drive and there was even an apple upgrade kit which included a new controller chip and HD drive. The upgrade kit is like hens teeth these days.
The 30 definitely had the HD drive standard tho.
Ah, yes the FDHD, that's what the one I had was, I sold it a few years ago when I was pruning the collection since I had the SE/30 too.
An interesting tidbit about the SE/30, it broke the previous naming convention for 68030 based Macs, apparently Apple was not keen on selling a computer called the SEx.
Heh, doesn't phase Tesla — S3X — with the next model supposedly to be the Y.
My "untested as is" 800k external drive arrived yesterday, I gave it a good clean with windex, then ran my floppy head cleaner thru it a few times and then threw a bunch of floppies at it .... it works perfectly so Im a very happy boy right now! Added bonus, this drive looks right with the SE styling despite being designed primarily for the II GS.
Added bonus, this drive looks right with the SE styling despite being designed primarily for the II GS.
And they have even turned yellow/brown to the same extent!
Seriously though, you can't bank on that, if one unit has seen a lot of sunlight and the other has been sitting in a shady spot. (Or is the yellowing mainly due to the light conditons in the picture in this case?)
Added bonus, this drive looks right with the SE styling despite being designed primarily for the II GS.
And they have even turned yellow/brown to the same extent!
Seriously though, you can't bank on that, if one unit has seen a lot of sunlight and the other has been sitting in a shady spot. (Or is the yellowing mainly due to the light conditons in the picture in this case?)
It's ultimately heat that brings the fire retardant to the surface, I had 2 Amiga 500's in storage, in sealed boxes, during a 40c+ heat wave and they both yellowed badly.
Heat or UV will both do it. UV definitely plays a part though because I've had equipment that had a sticker on it that created a very clear shadow in the yellowing.
Fortunately there are ways to reverse this to some extent. Mix some hydrogen peroxide with a bit of Oxy clean in a spray bottle, set the case out in the sun on a clear summer day and spray it down with the mixture. Keep misting it periodically to keep it wet and you'll be able to watch the yellowing vanish right before your eyes. Within about 15 minutes it should be substantially improved, that's what I did with my SE/30. Don't overdo it or the plastic will take on a chalky appearance that you can't fully recover. It will never be quite as light as it was originally but you can make it look WAY better than it was.
Heat or UV will both do it. UV definitely plays a part though because I've had equipment that had a sticker on it that created a very clear shadow in the yellowing.
Fortunately there are ways to reverse this to some extent. Mix some hydrogen peroxide with a bit of Oxy clean in a spray bottle, set the case out in the sun on a clear summer day and spray it down with the mixture. Keep misting it periodically to keep it wet and you'll be able to watch the yellowing vanish right before your eyes. Within about 15 minutes it should be substantially improved, that's what I did with my SE/30. Don't overdo it or the plastic will take on a chalky appearance that you can't fully recover. It will never be quite as light as it was originally but you can make it look WAY better than it was.
UV generates surface heat which causes the fire retardant to rise to the surface.
Retr0brighting is pretty easy, you dont need sun at all, heat is all you need.
for small stuff like keys I now use the stove top method
https://youtu.be/qZYbchvSUDYand for big stuff I put the items in a clear plastic tub covered with glad wrap - I use the Vanish Napisan Oxi Action for both methods as it's great at dissolving any surface oils or nicotine etc that may be on the plastic and gives a nice splotch free finish. I do dilute it a bit eg 50/50.
Very Nice! I assume it's a CP/M machine?
Hello. I also have one of these drives and wondered if you had managed to progress with testing it. I would be interested in understanding what you may have done with it - e.g. PSUs, cables, manuals, software, controllers, etc.
Cheers, Ross
