Disklavier

Dashby,

 

Many thanks for your post.  I still use floppies and your information is helpful.  One day, I intend to make the switch to HD (DKC 850) soon. So far, mine continues to chug along without a hiccup (16 years and counting). Knock on wood.

 

Rich

 

 

From: <disklavier@yahoogroups.com> on behalf of "dashby dashby@... [disklavier]" <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
Reply-To: <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Monday, December 19, 2016 at 5:52 PM
To: <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [disklavier] Failing Floppy Drives and Floppy Disks (Sorry had an email formatting problem.)

 

  

Hi Everyone,

Mostly just a lurker here, I like to know about player pianos, I am a
piano player as well. I also have a 35 year career in A/V recording,
some community television and as a computer technician.

Floppy drives and disks have been around
from about the mid 1970s into the late 2000s.

(See Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk)

Along with aging, they have always been problematic because as
with audio tape and video tape, the floppy drive head(s) is/are in
actual physical contact with the magnetic rotating disk.

Eventually as with all audio tape machines, i.e. reel to reel, 8 track,
audio cassette and all video tape machines, i.e. reel to reel, Sony
3/4 inch U-Matic, Sony Beta or JVC VHS cassette, the heads get
dirty and clogged with dust and audio or video tape gunk which
in the old days you had to periodically clean off either by bringing
the unit to a repair shop, or taking it apart and cleaning it yourself
by hand with Q-Tips and rubbing alcohol and a Degausser.

(See Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degaussing

Or you could try a self-contained audio reel to reel, 8 track, audio
cassette or video reel to reel, Sony 3/4 U-Matic, Sony Beta or JVC
VHS cleaner. Sometimes you cleaned the units and they would start
working again, sometimes not. As a repair tech, I cleaned by hand,
hundreds of these units. In addition, some floppy drives just plain
mechanically wear out over time and use or got damaged by the
floppy disk.

Examples of Floppy Drive self-contained Cleaners:

http://www.newegg.com/Floppy-Drive-Diskette/SubCategory/ID-131

Fast forward to 2016. The floppy drive and floppy disks were never
meant to last this long and most are only going to fail faster and
faster over time.

In the old days you just bought off the shelf from a computer store,
a standard floppy drive because the Data Connector and Power
Connector and Data Protocols were universal.

Example of a Standard Internal Floppy Drive: $8.49 plus shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007543%20600010633

Examples of Standard External USB Floppy Drives:
Range from $18.99 to $29.99 plus shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007543%20600010635%20600010634

It may be that Yamaha, like many companies, in order to lock you
into their system and pay their higher profits, has a proprietary
floppy drive so you can't go to a computer shop and pay about
$9 to $20 for a new floppy drive, instead of about $300 which I
read someone here mentioned as the cost to buy a floppy drive
via Yamaha Repair Service and you have to install it yourself.

If this is the case, their price is not in line with the OLD technology
they are selling you and they are gouging customers because
proprietary means they can.

I see over time, more and more people here are complaining about
floppy drives. So it is probably very wise indeed for everyone who
is still relying on the floppy drive built into their Yamaha Player
Pianos to be making plans to migrate as rapidly as possible to
other sustainable solutions as have been mentioned by other
members here.

There is no winning with this floppy drive, floppy disk game.

Please plan ahead because increased Floppy Drive and
Floppy Disk failures are coming to a theater near you. :-)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

DNA

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus