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Ques re using floppy drive from T2x on T61
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 5:56 pm
by pae77
I have an old IBM floppy drive from a T2x machine that I was using with my T42p with an IBM Floppy Drive Adapter cable mainly for doing bios installs and cloning drives with an old version of EZ GIG software that only runs from a floppy drive.
Neither my T61p nor the advanced mini dock appear to have the jack for that cable any longer. So I was wondering if there is some other way I could still use that old floppy drive with the T61p or do I just have to buy a new USB floppy?
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 8:14 pm
by Peak2Peak
Which port was the IBM Floppy Drive Adapter cable connected to on your T42p - I can only assume it was the parallel (EPP, ECP) port.
If this was the case, there is a USB to IEEE1284 Parallel Printer
Female Cable Lead available on ebay which may serve you purposes - see link below (Just make sure your existing IBM Floppy Drive Adapter cable has a
male connector which will connect with this item)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0187658834
Of course with USB Floppy drives being available so cheaply on ebay / online retailers it may not be worth the hassle of the above - Unless your existing Floppy drive & cable has sentimental value?
Moderator edit: Shortened URL to prevent horizontal scrolling
Re: Ques re using floppy drive from T2x on T61
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 11:38 pm
by bill bolton
pae77 wrote:if there is some other way I could still use that old floppy drive with the T61p
No!
Cheers,
Bill B.
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:50 am
by pae77
No it wasn't the parallel port. There was a special port, quite small, which never had any other application that I knew of.
Anyway, I guess I'll probably just abandon the whole floppy thing.
Thanks for the help.
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 6:35 am
by ryengineer
You can buy an external caddy with appropiate connector (compatible with your Ultrabay FDD) to convert it to USB. I did the same to convert an old Ultrabay 2000 device to USB.
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:54 pm
by pae77
That was what I was hoping. Can you give me a link or something more specific to search for?
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:55 pm
by awolfe63
Not worth it. You can get a good USB floppy for $10-$15.
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 4:02 pm
by pae77
Good point.
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 8:40 pm
by ryengineer
pae77 wrote:That was what I was hoping. Can you give me a link or something more specific to search for?
Since your FDD can be plugged directly into the ThinkPad T2x's Ultrabay 2000 or Ultrabay Plus so you can put it into a "Portable Drive Bay 2000" but it would unlikely fit inside it. Power consumption wouldn't be a problem IMO, you can always provide it through USB lead:
Portable Drive Bay 2000 - Overview.
Thinkwiki - Portable Drive Bay 2000.
Power.
However it's not worth the trouble as a Portable Drive Bay 2000 costs more than what you could get a cheap FDD for. I rarely ebay but I'm sure you can also find similar sort of enclosure caddy there that can convert your device to USB.
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:21 pm
by pae77
Thanks for the additional info.
I think I have decided that if I really need to have a floppy drive, I'll just get a cheap USB floppy. But for now I think I'm just going to use a CDRW for bios and drive firmware updates and I probably will just give up on trying to use EZ GIG and instead use Acronis TIH for cloning. (I'm going to miss that ultra simple EZ GIG interface though.)
