[Coco] 26-3022 Disk Drive and controller

[CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts]

Greetings all.

First, Thanks for allowing me to be a member to this list.

I am (very) new to the Coco community, platform, and Coco hardware/software. 

I recently bought the above units.  For their age I'm amazed at the good condition.  I also recently bought a Coco2, and understand this disk drive/controller will will only work with my system using at least a multi-pak - which I also purchased.  I read some negative remarks re: unreliability this combination of disk and controller, and I was wondering if  there is anything I can do to improve or eliminate these disadvantages of the combined units?  Should I locate a FD-501 or 502 controller?  Your expert opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Also can someone recommend a vender to buy the 160k (or whatever is compatible) floppy disks?  If some other capacity can be used please educate me and are they formatted in Basic?  I also found some manuals, but haven't received them yet from ebay.

Thank you very much for your advice.

Spencer