90mm M.O. Adventures: Part 2 – A Range of Media, Capacities and Standards

Now that I now have a working drive, let’s take a look at some media. Even if I didn’t have a working drive, I would have collected the media simply because I could – even when there’s no practical value to having it nowadays. It’s always fascinating to unearth something old and answer a curiosity from childhood, especially when it’s still sealed and brand new!

The Collection of Media

Here are all the discs I could justify buying for the sake of making an end-stage collection of 90mm M.O. media. It is separated by capacity generation.

128MB Type

The first is this Mitsubishi 128MB unformatted disc with a see-through shell. The front and rear proclaim Mitsubishi to be the first supplier of media in the world for the format – which may explain why M.O. was seemingly more popular in Japan than it was at home in Australia. This single-pack has a model code of KR128U1S and barcode number of 4991348031459.

The wrap is a pleasant green, the front being partially clear to show the see-through nature of the shell.

The cartridge is a translucent clear shell with branding on the top-side of the metallic shutter. The capacity is printed in the top-right, seemingly a carry-over of convention on 3.5″ floppy disks. The underneath has a printed ink-code number, but this case is made in a sealed construction.

As the details on the disk itself is hard to see and photograph, the details are as below:

Ink: 102C2A041Y3
Stamp: ZA9254-MR3H001A
Style: Two thick borders

Included inside is a label sheet which doubles as an index card. Quite a spartan inclusion which may suggest this is a slightly later product.

Contrast this with the Fujitsu R128 which features a full-wrap-around inlay card, perforated so that you could tear off just a section to allow for the label on the disc to be seen through the outer jewel case. The barcode number is T4988618907224 and this disc is Made in Japan.

This disc is in a grey opaque plastic shell, with screws holding together the two halves. The metal…