5.25 floppy

[fzabkar]

Re: 5.25 floppy

The floppy controller has a data separator whose clock rate has to match the drive.

A 1.2MB floppy has 15 sectors per track and spins at 360RPM, so its data rate is 5400 sectors per minute.

A 1.44MB floppy has 18 sectors per track and spins at 300RPM, so its data rate is also 5400 sectors per minute.

Therefore you should configure your BIOS for a 3.5" 1.44MB drive. In fact in the past I have configured my 1.44MB drive as a 1.2MB FD, and my 1.2MB as a 1.44MB FD, and was still able to read 1.44MB and 1.2MB diskettes in their respective drives.

You could Format your diskette via a Windows DOS box by specifying the "F:size" parameter as "F:1200". Alternatively, you could try specifying the "T:tracks" and "N:sectors" parameters (80 and 15, respectively).

C:\>format /?
Formats a disk for use with MS-DOS.

FORMAT drive: [/V[:label]] [/Q] [/F:size] [/B | /S] [/C]
FORMAT drive: [/V[:label]] [/Q] [/T:tracks /N:sectors] [/B | /S] [/C]
FORMAT drive: [/V[:label]] [/Q] [/1] [/4] [/B | /S] [/C]
FORMAT drive: [/Q] [/1] [/4] [/8] [/B | /S] [/C]

 /V[:label] Specifies the volume label.
 /Q     Performs a quick format.
 /F:size   Specifies the size of the floppy disk to format (such
       as 160, 180, 320, 360, 720, 1.2, 1.44, 2.88).
 /B     Allocates space on the formatted disk for system files.
 /S     Copies system files to the formatted disk.
 /T:tracks  Specifies the number of tracks per disk side.
 /N:sectors Specifies the number of sectors per track.
 /1     Formats a single side of a floppy disk.
 /4     Formats a 5.25-inch 360K floppy disk in a high-density drive.
 /8     Formats eight sectors per track.
 /C     Tests clusters that are currently marked "bad."

[jiroy]

Re: 5.25 floppy

Windows 7 sees it as 3.5. I think its a bios limitation, because I installed xp and it cant pull data or format. I then tried zubuntu live and it said somethign about cant mount and bad blocks. So guess this box cant read it

So going to have to fire up the dinosaur and try that!

I agree on that . If the bios sees it as 3.5inch , then yes , windows won't be able to read it , and Zbuntu already affirmed that as giving logical responses to such situation (cannot mount and bad blocks ) ..

A different approach is trying to remove the 1.44 floppy temporarily from the PC , and leave the 5.25 inch alone , hoping The PC then will be forced to see it as floppy A and deal with it in proper way..

In between , did you try other kinds or even different labels of Floppy cables connectors ?.. Why not assuming the inner cable connector's are copper corroded ? ..

[jiroy]

Re: 5.25 floppy

By the way , I threw 6 working units 5.25 inch last year , assuming no one will ever mention them , or even remember , lol .. And yes , i was thinking to leave them for Antics purposes , like i've kept a 10 mb Hard disk ..

This is the first time i regret it , because i'm trying to help virtually !! ..

[ozzy214]

Re: 5.25 floppy

By the way , I threw 6 working units 5.25 inch last year , assuming no one will ever mention them , or even remember , lol .. And yes , i was thinking to leave them for Antics purposes , like i've kept a 10 mb Hard disk ..

This is the first time i regret it , because i'm trying to help virtually !! ..

I would have bought them and flipped them as they are still selling. Their is a lot of industrial machines still running them to thius day.]


I pretty much put this project on hold. The mitsu floppy just keeps spinning the disk no matter if requested data or not. So me thinks the logic board is dead. There is jumpers on it, but I cant find a diagram.

I did find another floppy on the shelf that seemed to act normal, but never could read a disk. Bad head or bad floppies I guess? And sadly the last time I was monkeying with it, I broke the gold finger off off the board unplugging it!!

Never got around to firing up the socket 7 board i acquired from my competitor scrap man.

So guess this project dead till I find another floppy.

Sucks, as I have a whole ton of floppies from commodore I acquired from a estate sale. I wanted to see if still good and could access the data. Curiosity on my part and they may have been worth something on ebay.

I dont think its ment to be. I even was going to buy a zoom floppy controller to run old commodore floppies off of usb. But fired up the one from the estate sale and lets say it started smoking. Crash and burn baby....surprisingly never lost power. But has a rank burnt crispy smell!!

So me thinks Im just not ment to play with the floppies~!

[jiroy]

Re: 5.25 floppy

I would have bought them and flipped them as they are still selling. Their is a lot of industrial machines still running them to thius day.]


I pretty much put this project on hold. The mitsu floppy just keeps spinning the disk no matter if requested data or not. So me thinks the logic board is dead. There is jumpers on it, but I cant find a diagram.

I did find another floppy on the shelf that seemed to act normal, but never could read a disk. Bad head or bad floppies I guess? And sadly the last time I was monkeying with it, I broke the gold finger off off the board unplugging it!!

Never got around to firing up the socket 7 board i acquired from my competitor scrap man.

So guess this project dead till I find another floppy.

Sucks, as I have a whole ton of floppies from commodore I acquired from a estate sale. I wanted to see if still good and could access the data. Curiosity on my part and they may have been worth something on ebay.

I dont think its ment to be. I even was going to buy a zoom floppy controller to run old commodore floppies off of usb. But fired up the one from the estate sale and lets say it started smoking. Crash and burn baby....surprisingly never lost power. But has a rank burnt crispy smell!!

So me thinks Im just not ment to play with the floppies~!

Just keep it on hold .. As a repair shop , many customers and friends drop all kinds of items each day for free , guess that's why i don't write in the free scores thread , lol .. Last month i was given 3 VCR's , 3 HP printers plus one huge Xerox .. Of course i threw the 6 units due to lack in space , but who knows ? maybe we'll see anothers . If so I promise you one or two for free ..

About the floppies , yes , those you know , look like thin paper and can be bent easily , so i think they are the most difficult part in your quest .

[fzabkar]

Re: 5.25 floppy

Jumper settings ...

Mitsubishi MF501C/MF504C Flexible Disk Drives Installation Guide:
https://cdn.badcaps-static.com/pdfs/...73a05ba75c.pdf

[stj]

Re: 5.25 floppy

nice find!

[Spork Schivago]

Re: 5.25 floppy

I didn't read the whole thread and this information is more than likely outdated now, but just in case you ever need to plug in an old school floppy, like a 1.2MB 5.25" floppy, I do believe they make add-on floppy controller cards that you can plug into a PC. I saw one, but it was crazy expensive, 16-bit. I believe ISA. I didn't look too hard.

**EDIT: I found the Catweasle.

http://www.vesalia.de/?V02b0f1152514...871776e6429267

It allows you to hook up 8", 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" inch media and it's a PCI card.

[stj]

Re: 5.25 floppy

i dont see drivers for that!

[Spork Schivago]

Re: 5.25 floppy

i dont see drivers for that!

Are there supposed to be? I just figured it was plug-and-play.

[stj]

Re: 5.25 floppy

you figured wrong, it's for amiga emulators.

nothing is plug&play unless it has a bootrom.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: 5.25 floppy

you figured wrong, it's for amiga emulators.

nothing is plug&play unless it has a bootrom.

I didn't look too hard, but I thought that's what those little chips that have two sockets on that board where, bootroms. I take it I was wrong in that assumption as well...

[ozzy214]

Re: 5.25 floppy

I thank you much sir fr the info, but floppy still wont boot. Discs is just on a continous spin so I think the logic board is dead.

The other one I have attempts to red, but doesnt. So maybe bios limitation?

I put it on hold as I got many projects to do for my ebay store. And very busy!

[stj]

Re: 5.25 floppy

the 2 28pin chips are commodore SID chips (Sound Interface Device)

Vesalia is a retro shop - that's a giveaway anyway - good source of oldschool joysticks etc.