Yamaha PSR 9000 V2 Problem with Disk Drive and HD

[Borislav]

The keyboard has not been used in many years. When i turn on the keyboard it works, but the hard drive cant read the midi files that was stored.

The internal disk driver on the keyboard also cant read midi files from my floppy disks, but if i use an external disk drive to my pc, i can read my midi files.

How can this be repaired so i can read(use) midi files from the floppy disks on the keyboard?

Is the HD and DD replaceable, if so what type fits this model keyboard.

Is there any way to connect an external disk drive to the keyboard without USB?

[GeirH]

Hi Borislav,

Both the floppy drive and the hard drive can be replaced. Standard computer parts were used, but the technology is now old and outdated. This means that you'll likely have a hard time finding parts that still work.

The HDD bay fits a 2,5" IDE device, the form factor commonly found in laptops at the time. Maximum drive height is 12,7 mm, so thicker high-capacity drives won't fit. The drive bay has an old ATA-style ribbon connector. The operating system on the PSR9000 only supports up to 8 GB capacity and 2 GB partitions (a larger drive can be used, but only those 8 GB in 4x2 GB partitions) can be used. The PSR does not know how to configure all drive types out there, so some may not be recognized properly, even if they have the correct form factor and interface.

I don't know much about the FDD, but I believe it is a standard 2DD/2HD drive.

Apart from sourcing old drives, there are other options. On the HDD side, adapters exist that will let you hook a flash memory card to the internal IDE port. On the FDD side, there are so-called floppy emulators, that use specially formatted USB thumb drives to load/save your data.

These adapters and emulators are specialty items, not sold through the wider channels, so eBay or Amazon is where to look. There's a learning curve to all off this, not least because meaningful documentation isn't to be expected, so you will have to rely on web forums like this for any kind of help. Hopefully, the people here can point you in the right direction.

- H -

[GeirH]

A slight correction for clarity:

The operating system on the PSR9000 only supports up to 8 GB capacity and 2 GB partitions (a larger drive can be used, but only those 8 GB in 4x2 GB partitions) can be used.

The operating system on the PSR9000 only supports up to 2 GB partitions, and a total of 8 GB capacity (e.g. four 2 GB partitions). A larger drive can be installed, but only those 8 GB can be used.

- H -

[mikf]

Unless your hobby is rebuilding vintage keyboards I wouldn't think trying to repair a very old arranger is worth the cost or effort.

[GeirH]

Hi guys,

I would hardly characterize this as a "rebuild". Sure, you'll have to flip the instrument over on some pillows to get to the bottom panels, but that's probably the hardest part. A set of differently sized phillips head screwdrivers are all the tools you need, and the job takes 1-2 hours at most if you have some experience. Whether it is worth it or not should probably be up to the owner, but here's at least a rough estimate of the parts cost:

• Guets are not allowed to view links. In order to access the links, please Register or Login: 25 $
• Guets are not allowed to view links. In order to access the links, please Register or Login: 25 $
• Guets are not allowed to view links. In order to access the links, please Register or Login: 55 $
• Total: 105 $ (ex. shipping)

Well below the going rate of a PSR9000, I would say. 😉

The dual-slot IDE/CF adapter was chosen to simplify assembly, and may not be compatible with the Musitronics USB adapter (see below). There are cheaper single-slot alternatives without that nice 2,5" enclosure, but some creativity is needed in order to secure those properly inside the keyboard.

Note that while the HDD bay is accessible behind the small expansion lid (refer to the Guets are not allowed to view links. In order to access the links, please Register or Login), swapping the original floppy drive (for a Gotek emulator in this case) will require you to remove the entire Guets are not allowed to view links. In order to access the links, please Register or Login of the PSR9000. Once it is off, however, the drive cage holding the FDD is easy to get to.

I didn't factor in a USB stick for the USB Floppy Emulator, since many people have more than one laying around. The read/write speed is dictated by the PSR9000's internal floppy controller (likely in the 15-60 kB/s range), so don't bother with those ultra-fast USB3.0 drives. Also, even a 1 GB thumb drive has the capacity to hold hundreds of floppy disk images.

Now, from the original post, one question remains unanswered:

Is there any way to connect an external disk drive to the keyboard without USB?

The PSR9000 has a 50-pin SCSI-2 port on the rear, which can connect directly to an external HDD-, Jaz-, Zip- or MO-type SCSI drive. Units like that were discontinued long ago, though, and even if you can find a working one, it is anyone's guess how long it will last.

German manufacturer Guets are not allowed to view links. In order to access the links, please Register or Login used to make an IDE-to-USB adapter, that piggy-backed onto the HDD in the original bay and extended to a USB port mounted to the rear panel. It allowed you to browse the PSR9000's HDD contents from a computer via USB, and copy data between the two. Although limited to USB 1.0 speeds, it was USB Mass Storage Device Class compliant, so anything later than Windows 2000/MacOS 9.2 would detect it automatically. This device is listed as "on request" at the moment, however, so you'd have to contact them about price and availability. Also, if your HDD is already broken, this device won't be of much use.

- H -