I’m experimenting with an NEC CDR-35D-01 (SCSI for PC/Mac) drive that is almost identical to the NEC CDR-30A (CD-ROM² ) and HES-CDR-01 (Turbo-CD) drives in every way... except that it doesn’t work as a replacement drive.

The most significant difference I can find is that IC108, a single-chip NEC D78C14GF microcontroller, has a different internal ROM (586 versus 585). I plan to switch the 585 version from my CD-ROM² to see if that’s all it takes. If that works I’ll need a replacement IC108 for my CD-ROM² and if it doesn’t work I’ll want to switch a lot more ICs. I don’t want to put my CD-ROM² through all that so it means I’ll be looking for a junk PCB one way or another.

I’m not after a gear or laser or retaining ring or any of the usual stuff like that. If you’ve got a “junk” one that just needs a new laser or gear or both then it makes a lot more sense to just refurbish that. I’m looking for the kind of junk drive that’s smashed or cracked, has torn wires, broken spindle, etc. Hoping someone here can help!

Interesting experiment, saw your post on FB the other day, hope everything goes well!

Have you tried asking in the pcenginefx forum? Surely someone must have one that is broken beyond repair.

You can also search for a junk/for repair one from Japan, either wait for one to show up on eBay or look into getting one from Yahoo Auctions Japan using a proxy service.