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6.6

Floppy drive data (ribbon) cable specifications and versions

Asked by zabumba in Miscellaneous Hardware

Tags: cable, floppy, fdd

What are the different types of cables and connectors for regular 3.5" floppy drives? I've seen connectors with different keying: the FDC connectors on some motherboards have a pin missing, and some FDC cables, correspondingly, have no hole in that position. Some connectors are keyed on the outside of it (and the connector on the MB is missing part of its "shell", too, for the key to fit in).

Are those two things related? Are there different keys or variations on these?

Does each type of keying apply to a different revision of a standard (with differences such as maximum cable length, the possibility of setting the letter of the drive -- A: or B: -- according to the connector it's using, etc)?

In what order did they come out? Are the physical keys designed to avoid connecting to older hardware? For example, is the connector on the cable with the missing pin hole not supposed to be plugged into older motherboards? Or is everything forward-and-backwards compatible?

I hope my question is clear. I've searched the web but found no information on that. I'd like to satisfy my curiosity, but also avoid any possible damage to FDDs or MBs from plugging the wrong thing in -- I tend to deal with old, old hardware a lot.
[+][-]03/13/07 07:51 PM, ID: 18715636Accepted Solution

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Zone: Miscellaneous Hardware
Tags: cable, floppy, fdd
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Solution Provided By: Computer101
Participating Experts: 5
Solution Grade: A
 
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