Amstrad CPC 6128 & two flopppy drives

[merlinkv]

Hi to all,

I see in the web a video showing an Amstrad CPC 6128 with two 3.5" drives installed internally.

The two drives are working great with DD floppys and I'm thinking to do this mod.

What materials I need? Any connection diagram? Any guide?

Sorry for the noob questions but I've never used an Amstrad and I'm in the process of buying my first 6128....

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[Bryce]

Most of what you need can be found here: http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/DIY:Floppy_Drives

But you'll need to additionally connect the Sel1 signal to the second floppy if you want both floppies internal.

Bryce.

 

[merlinkv]

@Bryce

Thanks for the info mate.

Other possibility is to use two 3.5" drives externally.

It's possible to simply disconnect the internal unit and connect two external units and use as drives A & B?

 

[Bryce]

On the 6128 Sel0 is only wired to the internal connector and Sel1 is only wired to the external connector, so if you want both inside, or both outside, the missing Sel Signal will need to be added to the appropriate connector.

But I would suggest you leave the 3in drive inside and just add an external 3.5in. That way you can use both 3.5in and original 3in disks.

You can add an ABBA switch to select whether the 3in or the 3.5in drive is A or B (Most commercial games will only load from A)

Bryce.

 

[merlinkv]

On the 6128 Sel0 is only wired to the internal connector and Sel1 is only wired to the external connector, so if you want both inside, or both outside, the missing Sel Signal will need to be added to the appropriate connector.

But I would suggest you leave the 3in drive inside and just add an external 3.5in. That way you can use both 3.5in and original 3in disks.

You can add an ABBA switch to select whether the 3in or the 3.5in drive is A or B (Most commercial games will only load from A)

Bryce.

Hi mate,

I'm thinking you're right. Maybe the best is to preserve the original unit and use the external as A or B when needed...

Uffff! lot of question in my mind.....

Thanks again

 

[Bryce]

You can send any CPC hardware questions my way, but most of what you need has been asked before and can usually be found on the CPCWiki.

Bryce.

 

[wmsteele]

This drive mod works perfect on my CPC6128 (as well as my +3) https://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=5544

Gives you an external 3.5 drive that's switchable to override the internal drive or play nice and be a second drive allowing you to use original 3" software. Drive can also be switched to swap sides allowing both sides of a 3.5 disk to be used. Perfect setup for transferring software over to the CPC from a PC.