Buying a XF551 any advice?

[Bee]

I'm going to look at a XF551 this Saturday.  By look I mean take a 130X, attach and test.  I have 2 Indust GT drives that work and 5 1050s that don't.  The Extra capacity of the XF551 is useful for some of my "reorganization".    Any one have any tips/tricks or advice on this?

 

Thank you

[+Nezgar]

A common problem of the XF551's is broken solder joints on the SIO jacks due to not being secured well to the PCB. If it doesn't seem to "respond" to the computer booting, try holding the cable plug at the back slightly up or down, and see if it starts to work.

 

Easy fix to re-flow the solder on all the SIO jack pins.

 

Stock XF551 firmware from Atari is finicky, but works well with SDX.

 

There are alternative firmwares to make it work with a 3.5" drive, and work with a US doubler-style ultraspeed mode.

 

They are pretty rare, so if you can get it for a good price compared to eBay, you're doing alright.

[BillC]

1 minute ago, Nezgar said:

Easy fix to re-flow the solder on all the SIO jack pins.

The traces attached to the SIO pins sometimes break as well, easily fixed with a jumper wire.

[Marius]

Although I am more a 1050 (with happy or mini speedy ) person, I think it is hard to go wrong with a XF551. Although the PCB quality is very poor, it also means that it is not too hard to fix it. Benefit of the XF mechanism is that there is not a rubber belt used. So not a problem of wear and tear.

 

Another weak part is the metal shield that is around the read/write head. Sometimes it floats already somewhere in the case. Beware for that, since it can easily short circuit stuff. Remove any floppy disks. Unplug drive. Hold it tight in your both hands and shake carefully. If you do not hear anything moving in the case, then the part might be still in place. You might want to check this thread: 

Good luck anyway. I have a few XF551's and they all work. something I can not say about my 1050's.

 

 

 

[Bee]

XF551 in hand running XE DOS.  Pretty cool drive.  Working well under Sparta DOS too.  It really is a nice product for it's time period.

 

Thank you

[Marius]

18 hours ago, Bee said:

XF551 in hand running XE DOS.  Pretty cool drive.  Working well under Sparta DOS too.  It really is a nice product for it's time period.

 

Thank you

Try to get a firmware upgrade now. Even when you keep it 5.25" (which I did too).... stock xf551 has a few troubles that you won't like eventually. One of the biggest problems is that it does not detect density changes once you switch disks (with different densities).

 

Perhaps a new firmware is already there. You can tell by simply leave the drive open (no disk inserted and the handle to open) and  boot the atari. If a short menu with a few characters appears you'll already have hyperXF installed.

[Bee]

I used it today to recover a hand full of disks my Indust GT didn't read so it was worth the investment.  I doubt I will be using it that much,  I'm making a hand full of 360k images by copying files from the 90k disks.  I do appreciate the info.  I might get used to using it.

 

Thank you