[Coco] FD-502 dual drive system on eBay (not mine)

[Rogelio Perea]

On Mon, Sep 16, 2013, Christopher Smith wrote:

I do wish people didn't pay nearly so much for those two drive things.
>  Honestly, I've begun to wonder whether I could convert one of the single
> drive boxes to hold two half-height drives.  Not sure if they'd mount
> properly in the case, and have no idea whether the power supply would be
> sufficient.
>

I added a second drive to my FD-502 years ago (20+) and did not install the
fan as suggested in the user manual; had the system in close observation
for a while and even under heavy disk usage (OS9L2) the power supply never
defaulted, and it is still rock solid to this day. That FD-502 I use
exclusively on my CoCo 3 setup.

A little bit more than a year ago I upgraded my CoCo 1's 26-3029 disk
system (prior model before the FD-500): drive was a full height device
mounted on a corresponding case - took the original drive out and replaced
it with two TEAC FD-55 half-height drives, they sat nicely on the case -
only had to drill a couple of mounting holes on the bottom to secure the
drives inside. The full height case's power supply is a no frills linear
one, again as with my first days with the upgraded FD-502, after hooking up
both drives to it I kept a close eye on the power demands, play tested with
OS9L1 to my heart's content and not a single problem crept in - I did put a
fresh helping of heat sink silicone grease on the power regulator before
hooking up the drives, power supply runs warm to the touch but nothing
beyond the ordinary.

Newer drives will have less power demands than older units, that has to
account for my problem free experiences with the disk system upgrades noted
above.

-- RP