It depends on the model. Some brands have options for interchangeable floppy and CD-ROM drivers. So what's the problem anyway?

dominusprog wrote on 2023-09-22, 11:18:

It depends on the model. Some brands have options for interchangeable floppy and CD-ROM drivers. So what's the problem anyway?

I bought a laptop off ebay and the internal floppy is missing. There is one on eBay for £8 that sort of looks to fit. It doesn't have screw holes in the same place, but the face, dimensions and ribbon look right.

My question is really about the internal ribbon , I think the CD/ floppy interchangeable you refer are basically external drives that neatly fit into a space within the laptop. I had a Dell like that. The floppy could be slotted into the bay the dvd rom was in but also it could be connected via USB too. This isn't what I'm talking about.

Ta

Considering there is a 26pin flatcable to 34pin conversion board, I'd say that a lot of laptop drives with a 26 FPC cable/connector are interchangeable. Though likely not all of them.

Well I knocked the seller down to £4, I'll let you know how it goes

What's your original drive? I can confirm that D353G you've bought (I had my eye on it, but don't need it) is the common standard pinout like this: https://old.pinouts.ru/HD/26pin_microfloppy_pinout.shtml

Most laptop floppy drives with that 1mm pitch 26-pin connector are standard, however I did find out the hard way that certain Citizen drives in older Compaq laptops use the same connector with a different pinout. Burned a drive that way...

I can't say for sure, but I know for a fact that my NEC Versa (40EC/V50/M75/P75/etc...) machines and the NanTan FMAK9200 are interchangeable. The 9200's drive was screwing up when I got it, and looked like it had suffered a spill. So it has a NEC Versa floppy in it right now without any faceplate to speakof. Works great. It looks like the FMA3500C also used a similar drive, so it might be they are the same.

That's one thing about old Laptops that a lot of original literature got wrong is this whole idea a lot of this stuff was proprietary (hard drives, floppy drives), but really, it was just some standard device made by a multitude of makers, but crammed in some kind of specialty enclosure whether it was all the different 2.5" HDD caddies with different external connectors (but all 2.5" 44 pin IDE inside), or all these goofey slimline 3.5" floppy drives that were either screwed into the laptop, or a part of some hot-swap system like the IBM ThinkPad 7xx series and NEC versa had (VersaBay).

Just a quick update if anyone searches and finds this in years to come.

The ribbon did fit and was even the right length with the folds in the right place to connect.

However the LED and the eject button don't line up with the case. Also the Texas Travelmate had a bracket that attached to the Floppy which this wouldn't have and I didn't expect it to have.

I suppose my conclusion is that as an absolute backup with the case open I could use the Floppy Drive I bought in an emergency.

The D353G is a special shaped floppy drive only used where the system needs a really short drive, it's in the Dell Latitude XPi laptops and my Satellite 2800-500, as well as a bunch of late Compaq laptops.

You need a Teac FD-05HG or NEC FD3238 for one that fits more correctly to replace a more standard fitting like the drawing below. Good luck with it 😀