ADDING 3.5" FLOPPY DISC DRIVE ON AMSTRAD PC SERIES
While I was experimenting with adding Iomega Z100P2 on Amstrad PC 1512 via Palmzip.sys, I was researching on the Internet and thinking about both faulty XEBEC 4000 10MB MFM 5.25" Hard drive with XEBEC SCSI controller FAB 104277 REV E-00 from my Amstrad PC 1512 HD10 and faulty 5.25" disc drive in my other Amstrad PC 1512DD at the same time, I come across with the following links:
- Amstrad XTs: Questions and Answers
- Amstrad XTs: Hardware Compatibility
- 1.44 Disk Drive in Amstrad 1512
- AMSTRAD PC 1512 - 3.5 "Floppy Installation
- Food Amstrad 1512
- Retro Isle: Amstrad PC - Ugrading the Floppy Drive on a PC1512, PC1640 or PC2086
- Amstrad PC1512
- Fitting 1.2MB or 1.44MB drives
I've decided to remove both faulty drives and replaced with 3.5" floppy disc drive in left hand side slot on both Amstrad PC 1512's. Instead of going through the hard way with the use of soldering iron, I decided to go with the easy route - no soldering involved, just set the DS jumper switch to DS0 (A:), using one of the floppy drives that I've tested on as shown below:
Here is my shopping list:
- Floppy, mfm, zip, 34 pin to slot adapter and Molex to floppy power adapter (x2) £20.98 ($31.80) (eBay) - 29/11/14
- Metal 5.25inch Bay Mounting Bracket Kit for Floppy Drive (Beige) (x2) £18.67 ($28.29) (eBay) - 29/11/14
- 3.5" Floppy Disc Drives - Free:
- CITIZEN OSDC-29C - cannibalised from Amstrad CPC 664
- SONY MP-F17W-T7 - cannibalised from Amstrad CPC 464
- TEAC FD-235F- 114-U - supplied with Amstrad PC 1512 DD
- TEAC FD-235HF 6291 -U - cannibalised from Amstrad PCW 9000 Series DataTwin
Update on 30/7/16 10:32:14:
Since Floppy, mfm, zip, 34 pin to slot adapter and Molex to floppy power adapter is no longer available on eBay, needed for my Amstrad PC 1640 HD20 - purchased from 16/8/15 on eBay to replace the faulty 20MB HDD with Matsushita JU-253 (Drive B: from Amstrad PPC 640) to have both fully working Drive A: 360k 5.25" & Drive B: 720k 3.5" floppy drives with a few changes in Config.sys file:
DRIVPARM /D:1 /F:7
DEVICE=\DOS\DRIVER.SYS /D:1 /F:7
Also, I've replaced the existing 8086 processor in Amstrad PC 1640 with NEC V30 Processor from Amstrad PPC 640 for installing Windows 3.0 on 25/6/16. I had to order 5.25 inch to 3.5 inch Cable Adapter - Part No: L1167 from IEC for $9.26 + $14.60 shipping and had to pay by Credit Card twice as Santander Credit Card Fraud Team cancelled one of my transactions and give me a phone call to check that all the transactions are genuine.
Update on 9/7/19 15:00:
Great news, 34 pin IDC Female connector to 34 pin Male Edge Card connector adapter is now available to buy from eBay, as follows:
