Today on The 8-Bit Manshed, Ollie is working with a Mitsumi D359M3 PC floppy drive, a model that can be easily converted for use with an Amiga. Interestingly, the same modification may also allow it to work in an MSX machine. Ollie recently acquired several of these drives for $5 each, and although they were sold as functioning, previous experience with similar drives suggests they may require some repair work. For example, a prior batch included drives with alignment issues, broken traces, and other defects.
For the current mod, Ollie suspects there are two traces to cut and a small amount of soldering to do—likely a jumper will need to be soldered on the PCB. After disassembling the drive, Ollie plans to start by creating a solder bridge using wire and cutting the necessary traces, including pins 34 and 12. The final step involves bridging pin 10 to complete the modification. While working through the process, Ollie mentions the potential need to lift a pin and cut a trace to ensure the mod functions correctly, carefully verifying the cuts using a continuity test.
Once the mod is complete, Ollie tests the drive with the Amiga system, which boots successfully from a floppy. However, a slight issue arises when attempting to read a high-density (HD) floppy, which requires bypassing a small switch in the drive. This is solved by bridging the HD pin to the ground, allowing the drive to recognize the HD floppy as standard.
After confirming the mod’s success, Ollie reassembles the drive and performs some basic maintenance, including cleaning the heads and regreasing the motor. The drive now works perfectly, marking the successful conversion of four out of five drives from the batch.
