4 floppy disk drives on a PC?

From: Fred Cisin <cisin_at_xenosoft.com>
Date: Sun Jan 16 17:06:21 2005

On Sun, 16 Jan 2005, Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
> I know we've discussed this before but the right Google search terms are
> eluding me.
> Is it possible to get 4 floppy drives onto a PC? If so, how? If I stick
> two controllers in the PC and configure one with a different base address
> and interrupt (assuming I can find a card that allows me to do this) will
> DOS automatically recognize the second controller and extend the drive
> letters C: and D: to the drives on that card?

If it actually IS a PC (5150), . . .
The PC and XT controller has an internal, and an external connector, each
of which supports two drives. The dipswitches on the motherboard can be
set for 4 floppies, in which case A:,B:,C;,and D: will be floppies, and
hard drive, if any will be E:.
If you set the switches for TWO drives, then the hard drive, if any, will
be C:, and you'll need to use DRIVER.SYS or equivalent to access the other
two drives.

If it is actually an AT, . . .
There are SOME disk controllers that support 4 floppies. With MOST of
them, you'll need to use DRIVER.SYS.
Or, you can look for a second floppy controller that supports an alternate
address (the Compaticard is the most popular), and you will need some
minor additional software (which is often bundled with the controller).

--
Grumpy Ol' Fred     		cisin_at_xenosoft.com
Received on Sun Jan 16 2005 - 17:06:21 GMT

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