This is a video I've wanted to make for several years, ever since I discovered my Mavica had a high speed drive in it. As cool as all of these are, it's still frustrating that they simply never became mainstream.

Floppy drives could have been improved before the end of the eighties, there was really no reason for them to stay so slow except maybe controller limitations, and that limitation could have been resolved as well. Instead, we kept using the same crap well into the 90s, and it became impossible to replace. Ain't that always the way?

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cathoderaydude
Tip me: https://ko-fi.com/cathoderaydude

Chapters:
00:00 Intro & background
03:30 Defining "1X floppy speed"
10:40 Sony 2X floppy drive
12:33 Faster drives
13:14 "4X" Mavica
18:34 Other 4X drives
19:40 LS120 drive
26:00 Conclusion

Alright, here's the drives I used:
Dell: FDDM-101 / MPF82E  - I THINK there may be some of these without the USB... or maybe there's a very similar looking drive with a different model number that lacks the USB, I can't remember for sure. Nobody bothers photographing the USB plug on ebay to confirm, so... Good Luck!

Toshiba: PA3109U-1FDD - Not that you'd want this one.

Sony: MPF88E - I've confirmed that this one IS supposed to have a big "2X" plate on top, so all the ones you see on ebay will look different.

LS120: Imation SD USB M3 - Make sure you get a power supply, it's a 5V@1.5A, but the barrel plug is real small.

And some drives I don't have:
Smartdisk FDUSB-TM2 / FDUSB-B2 - 2X drive, ostensibly.
Sabrent FL-UDRV - 2X drive, ostensibly.
Targus 420-0448-002C - 2X drive, ostensible.

Y-E Data yd-8u14 - This is the 4X model, there are 2X and 1X as well with different model numbers.

Fastcache 10X - Let me know if you ever find one, or even see one.