[Coco] 1.2 MB Floppies (again)

[Brian Blake]

As long as I am writing to 3.5" 720k ds/dd disks this should not ba an issue, right?

Gene Heskett <gene.heskett at verizon.net> wrote: On Thursday 03 August 2006 10:54, Brian Blake wrote:
>Thanks for the info!!!
>
>Well, since I have 20 3.5" 1.44mb drives, I guess the best thing is to
> just use these.
>
>I'm still trying to get a grasp on the 5 1/4" issue, mainly due to
> transfering data from the older media to the 3.5" drives, but also, just
> so I understand;
>
>I have 2 1.2mb drives. So, as long as I copy from the 35/40 track
> 180/360k drives to the 1.2mb drive and never use those disks in the
> smaller drives I'm okay. And was I right guessing that I would use ds/dd
> 360k media in the 1.2mb 5 1/4" drives? Or since these disks would not be
> used in the other drives does the media matter?
>
>Thanks for all the help so far,
>
>Brian
>
The magnetic 'hardness' of the films on the 2 disks are different, the DD 
type being easily written to, the HD type needing about 2x as much write 
current.  One of the problems in useing the 3.5" drives today is that the 
lower coercity film disks, labeled DD, are made out of pretty pure 
unobtainium, and when you tape up the HD hole to make the drive thinks its  
a DD disk, then the write current is turned down and the disk isn't 
written hard enough.  It may read back in an hour, or maybe not.  In a 
year, its generally no way Jose`.

>
>
>Mike Pepe  wrote: Yes you can use these on a CoCo.
>
>Interchange with 35/40 track drives is an issue, they are not directly
>compatible without tricks. Using them in DECB is possible but again,
>interchange with others is an issue.
>
>Unless you already have a cache of 80 track 5.25" drives, I'd just use
>3.5" drives.
>
>-Mike
>
>Brian Blake wrote:
>> I'm re-learning, so please be patient...
>>
>> Okay, so the TEAC FD-55xxx series will work with a Coco, if the mods
>> are made to one (or any other 1.2mb 5.25") to get the speed down to
>> 300rpm, which makes it a 720k drive (using standard 1.2mb media?) and
>> the RDY jumper. Now a few more dumb questions::
>>
>> 1. That 720k is only useful under NitrOS9 and not DECB, correct?
>>
>> 2. What media should be used (i'm assuming ds/dd 360k) and can the
>> media then be used in a standard coco drive either FD-501 (I know is a
>> ss drive so I'm guessing no) or 502 (should be fine)?
>>
>> 3. Or, would it be best to replace my Coco drives with these newer ones
>> or the 1.44mb 3.5" (I know, used as a 720k) and use those as my drives?
>>
>> I'm sorry to be asking questions I know have been asked in the past,
>> but, looking over the discussions recently and my own Google research,
>> I have confused myself. Maybe once I get a grasp on this, I'll create a
>> tutorial for those like me who have spent entirely too much time in the
>> World if Windows machines...
>>
>>
>> Brian
>>
>> Mike Pepe  wrote: The notes there are pretty good. I can personally
>> testify that the TEAC drives mentioned on that page can indeed be used
>> on a CoCo as 720k disks. In fact I have two of them in a FD-500 case in
>> storage somewhere.
>>
>> -Mike
>>
>> Brian Blake wrote:
>>> Doing research looking for info on 1.2MB floppies has netted some
>>> results. Maybe you all have seen this website already, so if I am
>>> repeating, I'm sorry. This site:
>>>
>>>   http://www.oldskool.org/disk2fdi/525HDMOD.htm
>>>
>>>   Has info on 300/360rpm speed changes on the TEAC FD-55 series of
>>> drives and also discusses mods to others to make them run at the
>>> 300rpm speed.
>>>
>>>   Don't know if this is of any use to Coco users, but, I hope so...
>>>
>>>
>>> ---------------------------------
>>> How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger’s low  PC-to-Phone call
>>> rates.
>
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-- 
Cheers, Gene
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