Can reversed data cable kill floppy?

[cobo]

Can reversed data cable kill floppy?

 

[Biggs]

Rather unlikely for the drive but rather likely for the diskette.

 

[cobo]

Thanks.
I meant the drive.
I've just installed one that was working in one old computer into another old computer.
At first I had the cable reversed and the light stayed on & drive didn't work.
With the cable connected correctly there's no light and the drive doesn't engage.
But the computer doesn't beep either so I'm not sure if the problem's with the drive.

 

[bozo1]

Shouldn't hurt anything - the light just stays on constantly when the cable is backwards.

 

[sharkeeper]

If you have a diskette in the drive when it's powered up, the data on the diskette WILL be destroyed! It makes no difference whether the write protect tab is on or not.

There is no worse way to cause hardship when putting together a new system then to have your SCSI driver disk in the floppy and this happens! NEVER leave a disk in there when first powering up a new system. If the light comes on, reverse the cable! Don't leave it on like that for long, it puts both the floppy drive and the controller at risk.

Cheers!

 

[ChefJoe]

Wierd, cause I did this and the floppy went all "clank-clank" and sounded nasty. I figured it probably would be ok until later (I left it connected for a week or so this way, multiple reboots, etc....). Now that floppy drive is dead and had to be replaced. In my experiences, yes, it can screw it up.

I'd connected it backwards before and it continued working, but this time, it didn't.

 

[eklass]

fyi... i had the power cable on my floppy offset by one... and it uh.. actually caught on fire! whoa! that was not cool and fried the entire line (no power connectors on that wire works). think about it though.. you don't wannt stick your hand in there, but you don't want the PSU to blow up either...

not sure if reversing the connector will do anything, but thought i'd throw this out there

 

[LouPoir]

No way - I have done that 20 times.

 

[JHeiderman]

Originally posted by: LouPoir
No way - I have done that 20 times.

[/i]

Yes way... I've done it before.

- J