Famicom Disk System

Famicom Disk System

NES-001 NES-101

The Famicom Disk System was developed and produced by Nintendo.

Details

The Famicom Disk System was released in 1986 by Nintendo as a peripheral for the Famicom. It used special 112 kilobyte floppy disks ("Disk Cards") for game and data storage.

Hardware

Physical tech specs.

Software

Programming / Hacking details.

Mods

Mods here.

Repairs

Belt repairs

The belt-driven floppy drive will stop working once its rubber belt has perished. There are multiple replacement sources:

• Sinclair Spectrum +3, ZX and Amstrad CPC/PCW 3" drives have a belt which is also appropriate and easier to source
• Tototek sells a $6 replacement.

Belt replacement may require recalibration of the drive afterward depending on how bad it has gotten.

Error codes

The Famicom Disk System returns a number of error codes. Here is a partial table.

Code	Meaning
No.01	No disk card
No.02	No disk power supply
No.03	Disk card is write-protected
No.04	Disk card not authenticated (game maker ID)
No.05	Disk card not authenticated (game name ID)
No.06	Disk card not compatible (version ID)
No.07	Wrong side of disk card set in drive
No.08	Disk card #1 wrong
No.09	Disk card #2 wrong
No.10	Disk card #3 wrong
No.20	Screen data wrong
No.21	Disk card header block (Nintendo-HVC) wrong
No.22	Disk card header block #$01 unrecognized
No.23	Disk card header block #$02 unrecognized
No.24	Disk card header block #$03 unrecognized
No.25	Disk card header block #$04 unrecognized
No.26	Unable to write to disk card
No.27	Block end mark seen, but ends prematurely
No.28	File ends prematurely during read
No.29	File ends prematurely during write
No.30	No space left on disk card (it's full)
No.31	File count in header and number of files on disk card do not match

See also

Famicom

Useful Links

• Famicom Disk System fan page
• Belt Replacement and Adjustment Tutorial