Choosing between three Sony MPF-920 drives
Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 10:58 pm
In the process of reviving one of my two Ataris I realized that one of the two floppy disk drives (a Sony MPF-920 "E" model (dated February 2001 and with a Sony IC) no longer worked. The other drive (an older drive -a Sony MPF-520) works fine in both machines, also in HD mode in the Mega STe which is where I'll put that drive back in when I'm done repairing the computer.
So I need a replacement drive for my STe and have just been offered one of three Sony MPF-920 drives from a PC user who doesn't need them. The question is which of the three I should get. He kindly provided some photos:
An MPF-920-Z/1M1 from November 2004.
A Z/121 version of the MPF-920, dated April 2009.
Finally another Z/1M1 version of the MPF-920, also dated November 2004 like the first one
He had a look inside one of the Z/1M1 drives (doesn't know which one) and was pretty sure he could see a BH-955 chip on its PCB. He didn't open up the Z/121 version though.
Exxos has plenty of info on these Sony MPF-920 drives here and in what I believe is a compressed version with the same information in this forum thread, where his experience is that certain models/date periods have resulted in unusable drives (at least for use with the ST).
There's no mention of the Z/1M1 version, but he assumes that any of these drives produced from 2004 and onwards should be OK.
I assume the Z/121 version above, from April 2009 would be the best choice then, being the newest one (which in turn probably means it's the least used one as well). Any views on this?
I've also received (and completed building) Exxos' 1.44MB HD module which I intend to put inside my STe once I get a drive working, allowing me to use the drive in both DD and HD modes.
So I need a replacement drive for my STe and have just been offered one of three Sony MPF-920 drives from a PC user who doesn't need them. The question is which of the three I should get. He kindly provided some photos:
An MPF-920-Z/1M1 from November 2004.
A Z/121 version of the MPF-920, dated April 2009.
Finally another Z/1M1 version of the MPF-920, also dated November 2004 like the first one
He had a look inside one of the Z/1M1 drives (doesn't know which one) and was pretty sure he could see a BH-955 chip on its PCB. He didn't open up the Z/121 version though.
Exxos has plenty of info on these Sony MPF-920 drives here and in what I believe is a compressed version with the same information in this forum thread, where his experience is that certain models/date periods have resulted in unusable drives (at least for use with the ST).
There's no mention of the Z/1M1 version, but he assumes that any of these drives produced from 2004 and onwards should be OK.
I assume the Z/121 version above, from April 2009 would be the best choice then, being the newest one (which in turn probably means it's the least used one as well). Any views on this?
I've also received (and completed building) Exxos' 1.44MB HD module which I intend to put inside my STe once I get a drive working, allowing me to use the drive in both DD and HD modes.