I actually posted a real installable device driver for DOS over on VCFED that allows for proper use of 8" drives a while ago. Currently only SSSD is implemented but DSDD is coming soon.

Unlike this utility it does not interfere with operation of other floppy drives on the system

That's cool, I didn't know that! 😎

- I've got to confess that 8" floppies were a bit before my time.

The 1970s and the 8" era rather was part of my father's youth.
From what he told me, it must have been a fascinating era with lots of pioneers entering new fields in research and computing.

That being said, I'm glad that I can say that I once held an original 8" floppy in my very hands, at least.

It was a copy of Turbo Pascal for CP/M-80! 😃

Weren't there plenty of third-party 8" external drives for the IBM PC back when it was new? Data exchange, and all that.

Funnily enough, SCP's original 86-DOS supported 8" disks before Microsoft ported it for IBM, so I'd be surprised if it's DOS itself which makes the job difficult.