What capacity disks can this 5.25 floppy drive handle? \ VOGONS

What capacity disks can this 5.25 floppy drive handle?

Topic actions

First post, by IBMFan

Posted on 2020-11-12, 13:58

IBMFan Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 47
Joined: 2020-03-04, 17:13

It's a Chinon F-051MD. It's similar to the drive in the Enhancer 2000 floppy drive for C64 and the Staff C1 Apple II clone but this one has and edge connector and power connector for PC.
I couldn't find any useful information about it. The drive needs repair because the drive head is stuck so I can't try it now.

https://www.oldcomputr.com/staff-c1-apple-ii-clone/
https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Enhancer_2000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NfPbkIdYg4

Reply 1 of 6, by Synaps3

Posted on 2020-11-12, 14:42

Synaps3 Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 74
Joined: 2015-02-17, 00:55

Well, from a quick search, it appears to be only 180K.

Systems:
BOARD | RAM | CPU | GPU
ASUS CUV4X-D | 2GB | 2 x PIII Tualatin ~1.5 GHz | Radeon HD 4650
DELL DIMENSION XPS 466V | 64MB | AMD 5x86 133MHz | Number Nine Ticket to Ride
Sergey Kiselev's Micro8088 10MHz | 640KB | Trident VGA

Reply 2 of 6, by IBMFan

Posted on 2020-11-12, 16:16

IBMFan Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 47
Joined: 2020-03-04, 17:13

180K disk? Never heard of it, can't even find one on Ebay.

Reply 3 of 6, by Errius

Posted on 2020-11-12, 16:20

Errius Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 2793
Joined: 2015-12-16, 19:16
Location: Lave Station

Single sided disks (SS DD) formatted with DOS 2.0 or later.

I got a box of them out of curiosity. "Parrot" brand.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 4 of 6, by darry

Posted on 2020-11-12, 16:36

darry Online

Rank l33t++

Rank: l33t++
Posts: 5856
Joined: 2014-01-20, 06:27
Location: Canada

IBMFan wrote on 2020-11-12, 16:16:

180K disk? Never heard of it, can't even find one on Ebay.

You should be able to use 360K disks, but only one side will have data on it . You will not be able to flip such disks to use the other side because that would require a second round index hole to be present .

Reply 5 of 6, by IBMFan

Posted on 2020-11-12, 17:36

IBMFan Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 47
Joined: 2020-03-04, 17:13

Interesting, thanks. I'll repair it and try it with my 360K disks. Any idea what kind of PC could have used a 180K only drive? IC date codes indicate it was made in 1984.

Reply 6 of 6, by Errius

Posted on 2020-11-13, 01:21

Errius Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 2793
Joined: 2015-12-16, 19:16
Location: Lave Station

darry wrote on 2020-11-12, 16:36:

IBMFan wrote on 2020-11-12, 16:16:

180K disk? Never heard of it, can't even find one on Ebay.

You should be able to use 360K disks, but only one side will have data on it . You will not be able to flip such disks to use the other side because that would require a second round index hole to be present .

I assume that such disks formatted in a double sided drive are completely illegible in a single sided drive?

The original 1981 IBM PC had single sided drives that, using DOS 1.0, formatted disks to 160 KB. Later versions of DOS introduced support for double sided disks (320 KB) and higher data densities (180 KB/360 KB). This drive wouldn't have been from an IBM machine though. Possibly from a PC clone.

Is this too much voodoo?

Go to top of page Go to top of page

Back to General Old Hardware