Anyone using a Panasonic JU-455?
#1
I like how the Panasonic 5.25" floppy drives are made. I'm wondering if anyone is successfully using a Panasonic JU-455. I only saw a couple of posts mentioning them one seem to indicate it worked fine and another seemed to indicate it did not.

The JU-475-5 I just got works great but I also want to get a 360K drive to use for my C64 disks.

Thanks!
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#2
You will definitely want to use the JU-475-5 for your C64 disks!
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#3
(01-11-2020, 08:50 PM)admin Wrote: You will definitely want to use the JU-475-5 for your C64 disks!

I'm confused then. I thought you wrote in another post that there could be some issues reading marginal discs with a 96TPI drive? Maybe I read that wrong though and you were talking about writing which would make more sense as the width of the written track would be narrower and much harder for a 360K drive to read. I guess if that is the case I would only need the 360K drive for writing?

I also was a bit in error, I have a JU-475-4. I don't think that matters much though as the -3, -4, -5 seem to be the same mech with different control PCBs. The first one I got a hold of was a -3 which was in rough shape but after some cleaning/lubrication worked, all except for the fact that the top head is bad and chews up the disc Sad

Thanks!
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#4
OK, I just read through the C64 sub-section and saw where you mentioned that a 48TPI drive can't do half-tracks. As this is important for many commercial C64 disks I guess that would explain wanting to use a 96TPI drive.

I copied out what seemed like all the important tips for C64 disks and will format those into a coherent document and make it available.
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#5
The JU-475 drives seem to be the best drives for imaging/copying ANY type of 5.25" disk.
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#6
Best for a C64 or best for any type of computer that you wish to make a copy of an original diskette? If the later that's good to know. I just picked up a stack of untested Panasonic drives and most are JU-475's and, I think, only one JU-455 in the bunch. Guess I'll make sure to hang onto some JU-475's for my own use.
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#7
The JU-475 drives are best 5.25" drive, period.
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