beckman@silver.bacs.indiana.edu (07/07/88)
I have an AT-clone and want to add a 3.5" floppy, I currently have a 30 meg hard disk, 1.2 meg floppy, and 360k floppy on a WD controller. How do I add a 720K or 1.4Meg 3.5" floppy? (I need PS/model 50 compatibility) Please give me a hand. beckman@bacs.silver.indiana.edu
ldh@hcx1.SSD.HARRIS.COM (07/12/88)
>/* ---------- "Adding 3.5" Floppy, (Need Help)" ---------- */ > >I have an AT-clone and want to add a 3.5" floppy, I currently have a >30 meg hard disk, 1.2 meg floppy, and 360k floppy on a WD controller. > >How do I add a 720K or 1.4Meg 3.5" floppy? (I need PS/model 50 compatibility) > >Please give me a hand. > I don't know if this is the solution you were looking for, but I have seen (BUT HAVE NO EXPERIENCE WITH) a controller made by: Turn Point America (702)786-4484 called a "super multi i/o". FD controller for 360k => 1.44M & 1 (2nd opt) serial, 1 parallel + 1 game ports, all for around $100. P.S. I have been wanting to do the same thing for a while, but I was led to believe that the 3.5" disks are muck slower than the 5.25". Can anyone out there tell me for sure ... and possibly explain why ... thanks leo hinds {mit-eddie}hcx1!hardy!ldh
jallen@netxcom.UUCP (John Allen) (07/14/88)
In article <47200008@hcx1> ldh@hcx1.SSD.HARRIS.COM writes: > >>/* ---------- "Adding 3.5" Floppy, (Need Help)" ---------- */ >> >>I have an AT-clone and want to add a 3.5" floppy, I currently have a >>30 meg hard disk, 1.2 meg floppy, and 360k floppy on a WD controller. >> >>How do I add a 720K or 1.4Meg 3.5" floppy? (I need PS/model 50 compatibility) >> >>Please give me a hand. >> >I don't know if this is the solution you were looking for, but I have seen >(BUT HAVE NO EXPERIENCE WITH) a controller made by: > > [more about this controller] > >P.S. >I have been wanting to do the same thing for a while, but I was led to believe >that the 3.5" disks are muck slower than the 5.25". Can anyone out there tell >me for sure ... and possibly explain why ... thanks A 3.5 inch floppy can be added to any AT clone's original controller (provided it now supports a 1.2 Mb. drive). Either the 720 Kb or 1.44 Mb capacities can be used with, I think, equal success. Depending on the age of your clone, you may need to use a driver to obtain full capacity from the drive. I have added a Toshiba 1.44 Mb floppy drive, with the drivers necessary for compatibility with my old AT clone, and I'm pretty happy with it. Some caveats: It is a little slower than the 1.2 Mb drive; perhaps 50% slower. I can't format on the thing when I am running at high speed, or when one of my TSRs (I can't remember which) is loaded. I bought mine, at what seemed to be a good price, from: fd Micro 144 Church Street, NW Vienna, Va. 22180 (703) 281-0001
ward@cfa.harvard.EDU (Steve Ward) (07/15/88)
3.5 inch floppies have the following general features: 720K formatted version: ---------------------- 80 tracks/side 2 heads 160 tracks, both sides @512bytes/sector, 8 or 9 sectors/track (9 for MSDOS) 250KBPS transfer rate -- same as 5" 360K floppy head step rates and settling times are generally faster than 5" floppies 1.44MB formatted version: ------------------------ 80 tracks/side 2 heads 160 tracks, both sides @512 bytes/sector, 16-18 sectors/track (18 for MSDOS) 500KBPS transfer ratte -- same as 5" 1.2MB floppy head step rates and settling times are generally faster than most 5" floppies 3.5" floppies shouldn't run slower than their 5" counterpart if the same device driver is used for both. With a different driver there may be built-in step/settle delays or other code differences that inflict a noticeable speed difference, at least when doing simple single file or directory listings or even formatting. SMW