DSQD Drives (Was: RE: Diags/Boot image for Altos 580)

From: Don Maslin <donm_at_cts.com>
Date: Sun Mar 17 16:05:27 2002

On Sun, 17 Mar 2002, Joe wrote:

> At 01:20 PM 3/17/02 -0600, Doc wrote:
> >On Sun, 17 Mar 2002, Marvin Johnston wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> I just took a look at the docs for the Series 5 Altos computers and
> >> there is a repair ticket for a Mitsubishi M4853 Disk Drive. The floppy
> >> disk summary docs indicate that drive is a 5.25, HH, 720K, 96 TPI drive.
> >
> > So, this means I can make disks from image with a vanilla 5.25 1.2M
> >drive, on a Linux box, right?
>
>
> That MIGHT work but I don't recommend it. The 1.2M drive has
> compatibility problesm with the 360k drives and it has the sme compatility
> problems with the QD drive. You need a drive that's designed for QD and
> you need QD disks if at all possible. QD disk have the same coercivity
> (SP?) as 360k disks and 1.2M disks use a different coercivity.

Our experience differs, Joe. I have never had a problem creating QD
disks on a 1.2 drive.
                                                 - don

> Assuming I have DSDD floppies and use the
> >correct device (/dev/fd0D720) with dd?
> > Alternatively, is there any reason I couldn't temporarily move the
> >drive itself to a PC to build the disks?
>
> That should work as long as the PC understands the file structure. You
> may need to use 22disk or something similar that understands the Altos
> structure.
>
> Joe
>
>
Received on Sun Mar 17 2002 - 16:05:27 GMT

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