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8" Floppy Questions

Raven

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Mar 7, 2009
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I stupidly ordered an 8" floppy from Ebay because it was cheap (relatively speaking), but only after I had bid did I do research on the exact model, discovering it to be a single-sided drive. It's a Shugart 801 (in case my research was wrong), and if my research is correct I need a Shugart 850 to read all 8" formats.

Is it possible to make an SD drive read DS disks? I want to hook this up to a catweasel and use it to read/write to any 8" format, but if this drive is incapable it looks like I just wasted money, and I'm too poor to be happy about that.

Can it at least utilize a DS disk as a "flippy" (I assume an additional protect hole would need to be punched)?

I know one person with an 8" floppy near me, and I'm going to find out what model it is and if they'll swap - I know it isn't in use.

If that doesn't work out, is anyone on here willing to swap a DS drive for this SD drive?

If anyone felt like outbidding me, which is still an option atm (I'm in for up to $30..) the link is here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140366291124&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
 
Short of replacing the head carriage and the electronics PCB, no, it's not possible to handle DS disks on a SS drive. If you think about a second, it's obvious. If you flip the diskette over (and there were factory-original "flippy" 8" diskettes), it'll be spinning backwards, relative to the data.

I saw the SA-801 on eBay and probably should have cautioned you away from it.
 
:sad3:
...
:wallbang:


Edit:
Someone outbid me! Yay!

If it was someone here, thank you. I really couldn't afford to buy a drive I can't use.
 
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Really depends on what you want to do with it. Most software on 8" drives is actully in SDSS IBM format. These drives while noisy and slow will work fine.

If you into double density or double sided then you are out of luck.
 
I want to be able to read/write every 8" format there is, which, provided that the physical drive is capable of accessing a physical disk type, a catweasel will allow me to do - thusly I need a DSDD drive. Luckily for me someone outbid me - I'll be seeking a Shugart 850 (or other brand equivalent, like IBM) when I go after this again, but that'll be a bit - for now I'm going to expand my collection of Commodore items a bit.
 
To avoid another close call, you can PM me with any potential purchase you're thinking about making. I'll be happy to give you the thumbs-up or down on it.
 
To avoid another close call, you can PM me with any potential purchase you're thinking about making. I'll be happy to give you the thumbs-up or down on it.

Yeah, I've already done some research but I'll check with you anywho - with my income it pays to be sure. :p

Thanks.
 
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