The Drive Way - Floppy Disk Drive
(Page 6 of 10 )
You can install the floppy disk drive in either of two ways. You can install it from the rear of its carriage.
Or, you can install it through the front; either way, you need to remove one of the 3˝-inch blanks from the front of the chassis.
The bay for the floppy disk drive is usually marked, although it tends to be the top or single 3˝-inch bay. Unlike the hard drives and CD/DVD-ROM drives, the standard floppy disk drive does not use the Molex connector for power and uses a special 34-pin cable, with a twist on the end connected to the drive itself. The power connector is also a 4-pin AMP connector, but it’s smaller than the Molex and can be cumbersome to connect. The carriage that holds the floppy disk drive includes rails that help guide it into place.
Secure the floppy disk drive in place with two screws. We’ll take care of the opposite side when we’re done with the installation.
The floppy disk drive is typically the only device that uses the smaller 4-pin power cable.
The floppy disk drive is also the only device with a unique 34-pin cable and a crossover midsection within the cable end installed into the rear of the floppy.
Once you’ve determined where pin 1 is located, insert the master end of the cable into the socket on the rear of the floppy disk drive. The red stripe should be on the pin 1 side.
The ATA motherboard typically has three specific sockets for drives: a 34-pin socket for the floppy disk drive (usually by itself somewhere); and two 40-pin IDE sockets labeled primary IDE0, IDE1, or first, for the hard drives, and secondary IDE1 (with IDE0), IDE2, or second, is for the CD-ROM, tape backup, or Zip drives.
Aligning the red stripe on the side of the cable to pin 1 on the motherboard socket, carefully insert the tail end of the floppy cable into the FDD socket on the motherboard. There is a single 34-pin connector on the motherboard, usually marked as FDD or FLOPPY.
 This chapter is from Build Your Own Server, by Tony Caputo (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2004, ISBN: 0072227281). Check it out at your favorite bookstore today. Buy this book now. |
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