Re: 3174 disks

"Dave McGuire [email protected] [hercules-390]" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups gmane.comp.emulators.hercules390.general
Message-ID <[email protected]>
On 7/8/19 11:57 PM, Al Kossow [email protected] [hercules-390] wrote:
>>>  1.  What format are the 3174 disks?  I know they're 2.4MB drives, but
>>>     are the floppies actually 2.4MB?
>>>
>> They probably have a non disclosed format, but the block sizes are
>> probably pretty standard (512 Bytes/block). They are double sided 5.25
>> soft sectored HD (1.2MB per side). Cloning a diskette should be pretty
>> easy.
> 
> I was able to sort of read a 2.4MB disk in a 2.4MB drive with a flux-level
> reader to determine they have twice the number of sectors/track as a 1.2MB
> disk.
> 
> Getting the IBM drive to switch into 2.4MB vertical record mode is the mystery.

  Knowing the technology of the day, it's probably done with a line on
the interface.  One possibly obvious way to make that determination is
to look at the lines when a drive in a 3174 is accessing a 1.2MB disk,
then a 2.4MB disk, and see what's different.

         -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA


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