IBM 8" Disks - What are they?

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Fri Apr 28 17:41:33 2000

>>3340 MICRO DIAGNOSTIC DISKETTE **M.T.=5412**
> I don't know about the others, but the IBM 3340 was the *original*
> Winchester drive. (Not "a" Winchester, but *The* Winchester.)

If so, wouldn't those be the original IBM "Minnow" diskettes, which
are not compatible with the later 3740 and System/3 formats that became
industry-standard?

The Minnow was a 90 RPM read-only drive. It was hard-sectored, and the
index/sector hole was near the edge of the diskette rather than near
the hub. It was specifically designed for loading microcode on System/370
CPUs and peripheral controllers (such as disk systems).

The IBM Figaro drive, later shortened to "Igar", was the first "modern"
read-write 360 RPM single-density 8-inch drive.
Received on Fri Apr 28 2000 - 17:41:33 BST