[Coco] So, does anyone know where to get disk drives?

[Christopher Smith]

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mark J. Blair" <nf6x at nf6x.net>
> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 9:17:30 PM
> Subject: Re: [Coco] So, does anyone know where to get disk drives?


> I've seen several other CoCo floppy drives and/or controllers on eBay
> during that period, too, some of them in original boxes.
> Single-drive systems seem to be pretty common at the moment, but I
> haven't seen any double-drive systems. So, I'd say that you may need
> to pick up a single-drive system and another bare drive to add to
> it.

Yes, I'd agree.  Dual drive systems are unusual and they charge quite a lot for them when you can find them.

> Let's see, right now I see a naked controller (missing its case), an
> FD-502 interface, an FD-502 drive cable, and a complete full-height
> CoCo drive system in its original box. The latter was found by
> visual search, not by my saved search for CoCo items; check out item
> 281157216709. Some sellers don't know what they're selling, so it's
> often necessary to cast a wide net and wade through the pictures
> looking for something interesting.

Yes, I've been looking at the full-height single drive systems.  There are actually two of them (maybe more), in their boxes, but one of them costs $100, which I won't pay at the moment.  That's generally the problem with ebaying these things; people have started paying $50 again for bare 5.25" drives. :)  I did find one -- it was a single drive system but with half-height drives, so that I could have added a second -- for a good price, but the shipping company seems to have lost it now and that's been a month-long ordeal.

With respect to just putting one together from parts, the power supply would probably be easy enough to find; it's the box for the drives that would be difficult.  Perhaps I could get a trashed USB RAID box with two drive slots and chop holes in the front.  The best price I've been able to find so far on 5.25" drives on their own would still run me about $50 for a set of two.  Beats twice that price, I suppose.

Chris

-- 
Christopher Smith
Systems Engineer, Wolfram Research