What is the difference between the red and yellow striped cables for the floppy drive in a Mac Plus? I've seen comments about needing the correct one depending on the model of drive that you use. They look the same, but apparently have a couple of pins that are not connected on one of them? How important is that for the different drives?
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You need to use the yellow striped cable if you have a drive marked MFD-51W-03. It will continually try to eject the disk if the red cable is used. If the drive is marked MFD-51W-10, you should use the red cable.
No damage would be done if you use the wronge cable, right? If I'm not getting the correct behavior, then changing the cable may address the issue. I'm getting a MP-F51W-23 since my -03 has a failed motor.
It can't cause any damage, it just won't work properly. I don't have data on the -23, but I guess it's "strapped" or hard-jumpered to the same pin functions as the -03.
The reason for all these varied cables is that Apple needed to ship these drives for use with different systems. For the Apple II, they needed a physical eject button; not so for the Mac. The first Macs also drove the spindle speed from the logic board; all later machines control it internally.