[Coco] 5 1/4" drive

[Mike Pepe]

Technically a DSQD 5.25 disk would be the equivalent in terms of track
data density as a HD 1.44MB floppy (written data at a 500KHz rate)

Density is really a reference to the density of data per track, and has
nothing to do with track pitch which is what those "DSQD" disks referred
to. 

So to answer the question, any low density media should work just as
well at 48tpi (40 tracks) and 96tpi (80 tracks)

As to finding a working 80 track double density- good luck there. I
pulled a couple out of some AT&T 3B2-400's if that helps :)



-----Original Message-----
From: coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com [mailto:coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com]
On Behalf Of J.P. Samson
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 9:53 AM
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [Coco] 5 1/4" drive

On Apr 7, 2009, at 9:14 AM, Gene Heskett wrote:
> On Tuesday 07 April 2009, Bill wrote:
>> Refresh my memory, please. Can an 80 track 1.2M 5 1/4" drive be  
>> installed
>> into an FD-502 case and work correctly? Will it act like a  
>> "standard" floppy
>> drive using the stock chip in the controller?
>
> Yes and no.  If you can locate the jumper on the drive that slows  
> the disk
> from the 360 rpm the 1.2meg disk spins, to the 300 rpm that all  
> other disk
> formats spins, then they can, under os9/nitros9 only, be used for  
> 720k drives.
> I have been doing so for many years.

What do you use for disks in this scenario?  I would think you'd need  
5-1/4" DSQD (double-sided, quad-density) floppies to ensure  
reliability.  These are ultra-rare (I only have a single 10-pack of  
them in my collection).

-- JP


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