Bail UltraBay Floppy?

[ronbo613]

I've got a floppy disc drive for the Ultrabay on my T30 that is just about worthless to me. Can I remove the floppy drive and use the mounting hardware for a hard drive or DVD drive?
Also, the DVD-ROM tray on this computer only opens about halfway and stops, I have to pull it completely open. Could that be an indication the drive is wearing out?

[rkawakami]

Looking at the differences between the floppy and optical drives in the Ultrabay 2000 format says that there probably isn't much of a chance to use the almost-useless floppy for either a hard drive or CD/DVD. The mounting frame for the floppy can't be easily adapted to the form factor required for optical drives (two thin rails on the side and connector on the back). Same goes for mounting a hard drive inside the floppy frame as you would need the IDE connector/interface for the HD to go out the Ultrabay connector.

Beside using the floppy to update your BIOS, boot diagnostic programs or cloning software, I agree that floppy drives are almost obsolete in today's world.

As far as your DVD drive is concerned, are you talking about the distance the tray pops out when you press the eject button? If so, then it really depends upon the strength of the spring inside the drive as to how far the drawer pops out.

[ronbo613]

Thanks for that info Ray. I had a feeling that floppy was worthless. Too bad I can't use the parts for something useful. I've got floppy drives on my PCs, mainly because I build them myself and run Memtest to test the RAM, other than that they have no real value.
The DVD-ROM is feeling a little worn out. I think my sister, who was the previous owner, watched a lot of DVDs on plane flights. It pops about halfway out when you hit the eject button, then stops. Pretty sure it's the original drive. I don't use it much, mostly to run the Acronis Restore Disc to make backup clones of the hard drive. I was reading the recent thread on DVD-RWs and MultiDrives, maybe start thinking about one of those.

[tfflivemb2]

If it helps, none of my optical drives pop out more than an inch or so....then I have to pull it the rest of the way out.

As for the floppy drive...dont get rid of it yet....they are a real life saver for BIOS upgrades, or situations where you might have to hack the BIOS...such as the no-1802.com method.

[ronbo613]

If it helps, none of my optical drives pop out more than an inch or so....then I have to pull it the rest of the way out.

As for the floppy drive...dont get rid of it yet....they are a real life saver for BIOS upgrades, or situations where you might have to hack the BIOS...such as the no-1802.com method.

I'm really cheap, er, thrifty, so I'll wait for the DVD drive to fail before I replace it.
As far as the floppy, it's not worth it to throw it away, but I think I'll take it out of my carry-on bag.

[Purcy]

Same here, when I eject anything from my Ultrabay slot, it only pops out maybe 1/2-1" then I pull it the rest of the way out. My CD/DVD drive just died this week, you'll get this pitiful low whirring noise then it just stops. Poor thing

[tom lightbody]

speaking up for the humble floppy: tho its utility as backup/install device has been swept away by tsunami of
program bloat, nevertheless I find it useful to maintain a host of different formats 360/1.2/1.44/2.88
on various machines:

1. BIOS upgrade as mentioned

2. Partition Magic boots frm floppy only

3. "rescue floppy" including TomsRtbt

4. booting MS including "one true dos 3.3"

5. "sneakernet" transfers

6. data retrieval from archives

on thinkpads alone I see at least 3 external 1.44 drive types: USB; 701/760; 560/600--also X,T,A w/ dock. And
the 2/3 spindle machines have an assortment of removable internal devices. So the well equipped tp
floppiest has quite a collection.

[ronbo613]

"sneakernet" transfers

Finally, somebody shows up who might be older than me.
A "floppy" is something a lot of us old schoolers might have to deal with someday, if you get my drift.

[alagregg]

i am pretty sure laptop CD/DVD drives aren't meant to pop out the whole way.

every laptop drive i have ever seen only pops out about half way at most. you have to pull it the rest of the way. This is by design, it is not a flaw.

- Alg