Replacement drives for Portables: W1D range (11mm high) V series (15mm high) U series (19mm high)

Citizen have manufactured three different types of "slim" floppy drives which were widely used in portable and notebook PCs.

THERE ARE NO MORE REPLACEMENT DRIVES
AVAILABLE FROM CITIZEN

Unfortuantely, these all finished production at least 5 years ago and we have no stocks. You will need to look in the aftermarket and reconditioned markets for these drives.

However, we can give you some information which mayassist your search. Firstly, you will need to identify which type you have in your PC

Series Title	Height of Drive	Example Label	Solution
W-series also known as "W1D"	11 mm		These drives we last manufactured in 2001.
V-series	15 mm		These drives were last manufactured in 1997.
U-series	19 mm		These drives were last manufactured in 1995.

U and V-series replacement drives

There are no alternative versions of floppy drive available from Citizen for the "U" and "V" series drives. Also, there is no more stock of these drives available due to the long time ago they were last manufactured. However, you have two other options:

• You must contact the original supplier of the PC for spare parts.
• You must get your disk drive repaired by a third part repair company.

W-series replacement drives

These drives are no longer in production. However, you may be able to find some drives from a variety of sources (repair houses, service companies, wholesalers with extra stock). These following information is provided purely as a guide to assist you in choose these nearest equivalent unit.

If your portable is fitted with a W-series drive, you must identify which version is fitted to your PC. There are subtle differences between the different versions of these drives: some are cosmetic differences (nothing more that the colour of the drive or the LED on the front). In other cases there are electrical differences and then a standard drive may not work.

The following is a guide only as to whether you can use a "standard" drive as a substitute.

If you cannot find your drive in the list, or are not 100% sure that a "standard" drive will work, you must go back to the manufacturer of the PC and buy the exact replacement part. Citizen cannot guarantee that an alternative to the original drive will work correctly.

Floppy Drive Labelling

On the underside of all Citizen 11-mm drives is a barcode giving the part number:

The barcode shown is for a W1DA-11A drive. Note that the "D" is not shown on the label. The rest of the information is the serial number and is not important in this case.

Compatibility

We are confident that the following versions of drives are electrically compatible with the current "standard" W1DE-00BE 11mm high floppy disk drive and should work without any problems. Only the "cosmetic" items such as bezel colours and styles must be changed. Again, we must emphasise it is your choice to use a compatible drive.

W1DE-10B, -19B, -20B, -22B, -23B, -24B, -26B, -31B, -36B, -38B, -41B, -42B, -46B, -47B, -48B, -50B, -51B, -53B, -55B, -59B, -60B, -61B, -62B, -63B, -64B, -67B, -69B, -70B.

W1DA-28B

The earlier "A" versions (e.g. W1DE-00A) of these "B" drives (e.g. W1DE-00B) are also likely to be compatible with the standard unit.

Many of the W1DA-xxX drives are also compatible with W1DE drives, so long as pin 11 of the interface is either not connected or pulled "high". If this pin is "low", the drive will not work. Whether this pin is connected is down to the PC manufacturer, but it has been found that the W1DA-11A drive (example barcode shown in the label above) used in many portables is usually compatible with the W1DE-00B.

Finally, the standard drive may work with other versions of the W-series drives used in portables, but care must be taken to ensure that all types of diskettes - DD (720K), HD (1.44Mb) , HD-J (1.2Mb) - work without problems.

Where can I get a replacement drive?

As previously mentioned, these drives are no longer in production. All Citizen companies have no further stock so you will need to find a supplier or repairer.

We cannot specifically recommend any companies that can supply drives but a good start would be to search the internet for the words "W1D drive" where you will find a number of suppliers and refurbishers. They can either supply a new or refurbished drive or repair your existing drive.