Hey and Hi

[parametric]

Hi. You make some valid points here and tbh I think they were a mix of branded and non-branded.
I also since reading online see there is a difference/issues around using 720kb and 1.44MB ones as well as HD or DD. I'll have to inspect them all now. Hopefully the belt repair will be the fix...I'll be gutted to lose 90% of my music :/

I would be generally hopeful that your collection of disks from back in the day should be fine.

They were written by your Synth or the MDF2 which would BOTH have had "proper" DD Drives -

so they would have been FULL track height.

Difficulties normally appear when the HD-Drive-equipped PC is included in the loop - for reasons I've explained previously.

I believe that HD Drives have a physical sensor which "looks" for the presence, or absence of the extra hole

found on HD Media, and configures the drive accordingly.

As HD Drives (and their Media) became more common, users used to tape over the extra hole in the HD disks to

FOOL the drive into thinking it was DD Media . .

The problem with THIS is that the Magnetic media itself is HD - and writing currents in a DD Drive are not generally

strong enough to write successfully. With lower quality media - it MAY work, but is NOT reliable - so NOT recommended . .

Similarly, you USED to be able to buy a PUNCH, that would punch that second hole in DD Media -

to convince the Drive that it was a HD DISK - Again, not to be recomended and not reliable.

again, variable quality in the media may work - for no very good reason.

You can only be sure of a SUCCESSFUL Operation when you write a file to disk AND CAN READ IT BACK SUCCESSFULLY

ANOTHER thing to remember is that the FAT filing system used is very old . . . .

Directories are NOT supported, and file names should be 8.3 ie nnnnnnnn.nnn (name + extension)

Midi files for instance - are nnnnnnnn.X01 to .X99 Lettering should be upper case.

The system WILL allow you to have TWO files ending in .X03 (for instance) on a Disk, BUT only the FIRST ONE

will show in a listing of the Disk.

There may be other Caveats too, NO Spaces in Names perhaps - I can't remember

When the PC is introduced, it WILL of course allow lower case letters . . . . .something to watch . . . .

SysEx dumps from device to device should be fine - so I'm thinking bad disks, bad belt or dirty head . . .

Data speed should not be an issue between devices of similar age . . (IMO)

parametric

[squishmusic]

Thanks Parametric. Your replies are welcomed, detailed and interesting.
Perhaps I should have made clear I am a Mac user not PC.
I will not connect the MDF2 direct to Mac. Rather I just want to recover the SysEx bulk dumps from MDF2, load back to the QY70, then dump the SyseX file (or as a SMF?) to my Mac so I can then forget about relying on the MDF2 and have my raw MIDI data on my Mac to edit there or send on to trigger other external MIDI gear.
Belt ordered and I did a trial test yesterday of opening the MDF2 and seeing whats inside. The belt does look ok but feels a bit wimpy slack...of course I do not know if it should be as tight as a gnat ass lol, but I guess we'll see: just waiting the arrival of belt from ebayUK.

Cheers!

Still got to virgin-connect up my QY to my vintage macbook (2006) running OSX 10.7 - I'll use this as my music computer since this Mac has audio in, whereas my new MacbookPro has only a headphone out and has lots of nice software I bought back in the 2000's

[squishmusic]

Oh dear..this started off well and ended in a disaster :/
Belt arrived. *yay*
Took apart MDF2 (dial a trial run to see whats inside last week).
Now I proceeded with the replacement. First flipped drive to clean the heads. Check.
Started to remove PCB…however for some reason the 6 screws (the Korg tutorial said 5) MUST have had slightly different head 'x' sizes. I have both bad eyesight (close-up) and not-very-good screwdrivers, but hey 4 screws came out fine and I struggled with the last 2, but I tried 3 other heads, but as I tried I failed. In the end I had to take a macro photo with my camera bcoz MY EYES could not see to focus….but the last 2 screws are now FU€KED…so….question:
How to remove two fucked screws from the PCB w/o fu#king the PCB
Should have gone and bought a new screwdriver set with 20 different sizes…but when the screwdriver I used happily removed 4 I didnt expect 2 to be so stubborn!
*tears of anger with myself*

[squishmusic]

Oh one thought...I found an old FDD in a PC in the local trash 2 weeks back. Removed that. Perhaps I can replace the drives totally?

Is this one exactly
https://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-s ... py-series/

I know nothing of electronics so maybe someone can know if this would work?
:/

Else it's back to eBay for a MDF2/3 or a exact FDD for that model.
*mjeh*

[parametric]

Oh dear..this started off well and ended in a disaster :/
Belt arrived. *yay*
Took apart MDF2 (dial a trial run to see whats inside last week).
Now I proceeded with the replacement. First flipped drive to clean the heads. Check.
Started to remove PCB…however for some reason the 6 screws (the Korg tutorial said 5) MUST have had slightly different head 'x' sizes. I have both bad eyesight (close-up) and not-very-good screwdrivers, but hey 4 screws came out fine and I struggled with the last 2, but I tried 3 other heads, but as I tried I failed. In the end I had to take a macro photo with my camera bcoz MY EYES could not see to focus….but the last 2 screws are now FU€KED…so….question:
How to remove two fucked screws from the PCB w/o fu#king the PCB
Should have gone and bought a new screwdriver set with 20 different sizes…but when the screwdriver I used happily removed 4 I didnt expect 2 to be so stubborn!
*tears of anger with myself*

The only approach I would suggest is to VERY CAREFULLY, turn those screws with miniature needle-nosed pliers -

if possible, that have "knurled" tips (to grip the screw heads).

This may be done at 90 degrees to the pcb, OR, flat to the pcb as space will allow . . .

Flat is often better, as the extra leverage should make it easier . .

Try both and see which is easier . . . BUT, be careful not to scratch or damage the pcb

Turn only a few degrees at a time.

Breaking the initial "Set" of the screw may be difficult - as these are usually assembled by robots, with

powered screwdrivers - and are usually TIGHT.

Once the initial "set" has been broken, you may find that a flat-blade screwdriver WILL engage more easily

and turn those "mashed" heads enough to unscrew completely . . .

You'll need to find suitable sized replacements - so don't throw the mashed screws away YET . . .

parametric

[squishmusic]

That was my immediate solution idea to use pliers; but have none so thin and I can imagine the PCS would get damaged as there isnt much wiggle/twist room and yes those last 2 screws were set very tight - havent even loosened them!
I was surprised 4 came out so easy and the most important 2 (pivotal point of by the sensor) didnt!

There is a local repair cafe here 1x a month (just missed it Thurs), perhaps they will have some tools to try. I'll wait and go next month.
In the meantime I think I'll try to source the internal drive from eBay (the samsung one was no good from a visual-level-check),
and/or search some other MIDI gear with a FDD.

Actually there is a QY700 for sale locally and the guy says the drive is functioning ok...
so my question now: Can I simply load my FDD's (with QY70 bulkdump data) in the QY700 and the hope they:
a) playback fine in the QY700 song mode (they are almost identical in sounds etc?)
b) Can I do a 'direct bulk dump' from the QY700 to my QY70?

[squishmusic]

Hej again
I have been eBay scrolling the last hours...
So, found this. Claims to have a MDF3 replacement drive.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Replacement- ... 2926741265


I think I scrolled in a post here that someone had recommended (?) this eBay seller? past yamaha tech?
Was that you Parametric?

[parametric]

Yes - I think I mentioned this seller.

Why not contact him and ask if the MDF3 drive will work in the MDF2?

Otherwise he has a modifies MDF2 with the usb emulator (instead of the floppy drive) for sale . . .

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MODIFIED-YAM ... rk:30:pf:0

But you'd still need a usb-floppy drive to get YOUR DISKS into your Computer to Transfer to the emulator's usb stick . . .

parametric

[squishmusic]

I actually did just that and asked him if it fits in a MDF2 - he said NO!
Which I am surprised at....indeed you wrote 'many of the Yamaha synths (SY85 etc) of that era, it has the DSDD (720k) floppy drive inside'
and as the MDF3 wasnt really much of an upgrade from the MDF2 (very little found online).
He did then send me a link to one of his 60£ usb-modified drives...so I cant help think he was trying to push that as a solution (no good to me)....Do you reckon I should take a gamble and buy....I cant think why Yamaha would fit a different drive in the MDF3....
?

[parametric]

I would guess then that the MDF3 is a later-enough model to contain an HD Drive, and therefore it's no good for the MDF2.

but you'd need to check the manuals of both to see if the MDF3 does in fact use HD Disks.

I've never owned a Midi Data Filer of any type - so can't really comment from experience.

The emulators subsequently appeared to deal with this very problem of drive availability - and IMO, enough time

has passed now, that they generally work well and users have got used to them and are happy with their reliability

and additional features.

Only you can decide whether to go with it OR try to repair your own drive . . . . ?

You will still need a usb-floppy drive though to convert your existing floppies - and any more you may buy . . . .

But once they are all on your computer, you'll only need a usb pen-drive for the Emulator . . . .

Let us know what you decide, and how you get on with it . . . .

parametric

[squishmusic]

Yep. There was 8yrs between to two and apparently the MDF3 uses 1.44MB disks and a 34 pin FDC interface. He said its a different drive altogether. It seems all the MDF2's floating about on eBay are being upgraded to the USB drive, but I'll try and hunt one or MDF3 in working order. Even a SY85 might be enough to send the MIDI bulk data to the QY.

Otherwise this week I am back on the 'repair track' since I lost my QY700 eBay & bid.
I read online 'how to remove mashed screws from PCB' and so I will go with the rubber band/duct tape trick, then try the pliers option…after that its the more nuclear ones. Drilling!
Failing all those attempts I just hope a drive or some Yammy gear with a FDD comes up!
I wouldnt mind a SY85 for the right price.

Wednesday is repair day…I will set aside several HOURS this time not minutes and BE PATIENT!

Oh, well once I get my data into my QY70 from the floppies I then embark on getting the data from the QY70 into my old Mac (someone said SysExLibrarian) to then edit in DAW. Any future QY70 work will then be saved to the Mac not the MDF2. I have a USB interface, but whether that will handle the bulkdump data I do not yet know..hopefully that librarian 1. runs on my mac and 2. can send the bulk data in chunks.

cheers
D

[squishmusic]

oh and and I had a flashback: I tried to get a USB-floppy drive to connect to my Mac back in 2011 but it didnt mount (Mac OSX10.6.. I havent tried any FDD with my new Macbook OSX108.5....but thats another 'Maccy' issue.

[parametric]

Here's an SY85, in a case . . . . presently at £175 . . . . . . Only 1 day 14h left . . . .

ebay.co.uk/itm/153372879706?ul_noapp=true

para

[squishmusic]

Thanks man.
Saw that but he wont ship, pickup only.
Im in Sweden as well so no chance

Here's an SY85, in a case . . . . presently at £175 . . . . . . Only 1 day 14h left . . . .

ebay.co.uk/itm/153372879706?ul_noapp=true

para

[squishmusic]

....There might very soon be a happy update on all this MDF2 mindfuckery and the clusterfuckery of eBay lost purchases!

Fingers crossed the current MDF2 both arrives to me in Sweden, and is working....