[Coco] Calibrating disk drives

[Steven Hirsch]

On Thu, 5 Jun 2014, Arthur Flexser wrote:

> If a Dysan test disk is available, the J&M Memory Minder program for
> the CoCo will work with it for drive alignment, with nothing else
> needed.

It is optimal, of course, to use an alignment diskette but not strictly 
necessary if you have time and patience.  If you have a machine you trust 
as a working standard, bulk erase a diskette and format it in that system. 
Then find a PC with a floppy interface that can boot MS-DOS and run 
ImageDisk (free program from Dave Dunfield).  ID has some neat features to 
help get the radial alignment dialed in on the middle tracks.  Then, it's 
a bit of trial and error to seek between the extremes and tweak for 
error-free reads at 0 and 39.  I've done this a number of times with good 
results.

Steve


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