I adopt some unexpected C64 treasures

[Virtualsky]

A good friend of mine recently sold his general store in the village not too far from me.  In the process of clearing stuff out, he found some of his old Commodore equipment, which he once used to help run his business.  He didn't want to throw it out, but when he found out I was still a Commodore user/enthusiast, he handed the whole lot over to me!  I was so surprised that he even had such things stashed away; I was very appreciative and glad to provide these components a good home.  If you'd like, you can read more details about this on my Commodore blog: Part 1 - Part 2

 

Here are a few pictures...

 

 

[+Gray Defender]

Nice find Sir!  Congrats!

[Virtualsky]

Thanks!  I never would have expected something like this happening out here in the middle of nowhere.  Stars were aligned that day. LOL!

[+OLD CS1]

VERY nice catch.  That MSD is really cool.

[Virtualsky]

1 hour ago, OLD CS1 said:

VERY nice catch.  That MSD is really cool.

That thing is almost over-built!  It's in a metal housing and very heavy.  Although not 100% compatible, I can see it's appeal to the business or BBS administrator.  This thing reportedly could run for days/weeks without overheating and I believe it.  It seems like it would be a very reliable disk drive, as long as your commercial disks weren't copy protected.

[+OLD CS1]

49 minutes ago, Virtualsky said:

That thing is almost over-built!  It's in a metal housing and very heavy.  Although not 100% compatible, I can see it's appeal to the business or BBS administrator.  This thing reportedly could run for days/weeks without overheating and I believe it.  It seems like it would be a very reliable disk drive, as long as your commercial disks weren't copy protected.

I have two MSD SD-2s, and they are absolute tanks.  I ran one of them on a BBS for a short time and it was fantastic.  I only took it out to replace it with a 1581.  With the copy ROM installed, it makes short work of copying disks, too.

 

I imagine the MSD-1 is just as well-built as the SD-2.  Like any of the 1541 compatible drives, like the Enhancer 2000 or the Excellerator+, they have their place.  For some time I was using my 1541-II to boot WordWriter and using an SD-2 for data.  I kind-a miss my older setups.  My work has taken up too much of my office space to accommodate good "classic" setups.

[+OLD CS1]

BTW, the bulk of the MSD drives is the power supply and its transformer.  I have a shelved project to replace the internal PSUs of my MSDs with external 12V/5V supplies.  I did this on a 1541 which significantly decreased its internal temperature, so I expect lower temps from the MSD as well, although its internal power is far better than the 1541's in terms of heat.

[Virtualsky]

12 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

I have two MSD SD-2s, and they are absolute tanks.  I ran one of them on a BBS for a short time and it was fantastic.  I only took it out to replace it with a 1581.  With the copy ROM installed, it makes short work of copying disks, too.

Nice!  I read about how great the SD-2 was for disk copying.  That sounds like it was a great setup you had there.  And to improve on the design with an external power supply is an excellent idea for a project.