Follow along as I clean, service, repair, and test a vintage Commodore 2031 floppy disk drive originally acquired in a trade deal from a fellow retro computing enthusiast for use with my Commodore PET 2001 series computer. The Commodore 2031 is an IEEE-488 floppy disk drive designed for Commodore PET and CBM business computer systems and features a Shugart Associates SA-390 5.25-inch floppy drive mechanism manufactured in the United States.
In this video, I disassemble and clean the Commodore 2031 disk drive inside and out while servicing the internal Shugart SA-390 floppy mechanism. The maintenance process includes cleaning the metal case, inspecting the internal electronics, cleaning and lubricating the drive rails, servicing the read/write head assembly, and performing a smoke test to verify the drive still powers on correctly after many years in storage.
After servicing the hardware, I connect the Commodore 2031 to my Commodore PET 2001 computer using the IEEE-488 interface bus and test the drive by formatting a blank floppy disk, writing data, and loading the disk directory to verify proper read and write operation.
The video also discusses the history behind this specific CBM 2031 drive, which was reportedly rescued from a school liquidation sale many years earlier along with other Commodore PET equipment before spending years stored away in an outbuilding prior to being brought back into operation.
The Commodore 2031 remains one of the most iconic storage devices from the early era of Commodore business computing, especially for anyone interested in PET systems, CBM hardware, IEEE-488 peripherals, Shugart floppy drives, and classic 5.25-inch disk technology.