High densidy disks

Johnyt · 26 February 2005, 14:36

Hi There I have noticed that some standard pc floppy disks will still let you format on the amiga and act as 880k but ive also had some that wont.

Can some ont please tell me a wich disks will work and a real cheap place to buy thme online in the uk

cheers

Akira · 26 February 2005, 14:53

Its not a matter of the disk more a thing of the drive.

Any HD disk will work, for assurance, cover the extra hole they have with a bit of tape.

However I don't recommend using HD disks. They have a very annoying tendency of going bad real quick, specially when in use with an Amiga drive (something about densities I think)

alewis · 26 February 2005, 15:07

Its because a DD drive actually writes a stronger magnet field to the disk than a HD drive does. Odd that might seem, it is logical if you think about it; the smaller sectors need a *weaker* magentic field, otherwise the fields affect each other.

Get a HD density drive for the Amiga, such as the PowerXL - you might need to search a bit on ebay for one, as I dont think Power Computing (www.powerc.co.uk) or eyetech (www.eyetch.co.uk) do them anymore.

lloyd · 26 February 2005, 16:30

It's also because the composition of the magnetic surface is different. It's like trying to record on a metal or CrO2 tape in a standard ferric tape deck. It works, but it sounds all wrong when you play it back. Magnetic flux density is what it's all about, to use the tech term.....

Johnyt · 27 February 2005, 00:56

I see

ok so wheres the cheapest place for DD disks then lol

alewis · 27 February 2005, 03:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by lloyd

It's also because the composition of the magnetic surface is different. It's like trying to record on a metal or CrO2 tape in a standard ferric tape deck. It works, but it sounds all wrong when you play it back. Magnetic flux density is what it's all about, to use the tech term.....

Magnetic coercivity - the magnetic field strength required to make a recording on disk. And I got it the wrong way around - the HD is less sensitive and requires a stronger write strength.

Akira · 27 February 2005, 20:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnyt

ok so wheres the cheapest place for DD disks then lol

wanna hear my advice? Get a good 4GB HD inside your Amiga, a copy of WHDLoad and forget about floppies.

I havent used my floppies in ages.

You can try ebay for new or used DDs but they probably are expensive for what they are aand for how long they can last from now on.

Firthy2002 · 28 February 2005, 00:29

You could always modify a PC drive, there's docs on Aminet that tell you how.

Jope · 28 February 2005, 06:09

The PC drive still won't make HDs reliable as it'll be modified to work as a DD drive.

Use the search option to find the previous time we discussed about this (perhaps this warrants a sticky?), I posted some links to DD disks there.

Also, Google Is Your Friend. Learn it, Use it, Love it.

TikTok · 28 February 2005, 06:19

Could this question (using HD floppies in DD drive) be added to one of the FAQs? It seems to come up every now and again.

Johnyt · 28 February 2005, 14:25

This is all qhuite funny now considering that even back in 1993 I have been using HD disks and Even ED disks. My farther worked for BT and could get them "cheap". I have only over the past few months been getting back into all this scince 1995/96. I must be an exeption to your rules here because last moth i tried every single one of my floppy's all games apps ect. And out of the disks that faild were mostly the DD disks even some game origanls faild. In total I have 287 disks ( inc origanal games ) 30 DD disks faild, 6 HD failed, 3 Game origanals failed, and 0 4mb ED disks failed.

So I guess from what you are saying I have been lucky with the HD disks.

Also: Yeah I have been trying WHD load. So how do you get it to wokr with out floppies?

Akira · 28 February 2005, 15:13

YOu get WHDLoad to work without floppies by pre-installing the games in your PC with WinUAE nd IPFs, or download them pre-installed, nd then transfer them to the Amiga already HD installed

Jope · 01 March 2005, 08:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnyt

So I guess from what you are saying I have been lucky with the HD disks.

Yeah.

It totally depends on the drive you use to write them.

Some can't write on HD at all, some do it but not reliably and then some drives don't care at all.

Thus we can't go giving advice that "yeah it'll work, go for it" when it's the minority of Amiga drives that can handle HD disks reliably.

lloyd · 02 March 2005, 20:20

I have an old original (ie, "proper") Amiga external drive - the CBM 1011. It writes HD floppies just fine, and they seem reliable, but the Mig's internal drives (in all my machines) and the other two external drives I have won't even format them. So yeah, Jope is right with what he says.

dkovacs · 02 March 2005, 21:09

I formatted 3 HD disks last night, one as a 720Kb Cross Dos disk to move files from my PC to Amiga 1200, and the other as Amiga, as I needed to make a bootable disk to install the squirrelSCSI drivers. They all failed the first time I tried to format, but all worked fine the 2nd time I formatted them. My new PC will not read DSDD disks, but my older one will fine.

lloyd · 04 March 2005, 19:39

Eh? Your new PC won't read DSDD disks? Assuming we are talking about 3.5" DSDD disks rather than the older 5.25" disks, I bet it will - format as 720Kb not 1.4 MB.

Jope · 05 March 2005, 17:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkovacs

My new PC will not read DSDD disks, but my older one will fine.

Did you tape over the id hole in the HD disks you formatted as DD?

26 February 2005, 14:36	#1
Johnyt Zone Friend Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Weymouth, Dorset, England Age: 31 Posts: 62	High densidy disks Hi There I have noticed that some standard pc floppy disks will still let you format on the amiga and act as 880k but ive also had some that wont. Can some ont please tell me a wich disks will work and a real cheap place to buy thme online in the uk cheers

28 February 2005, 00:29	#8
Firthy2002 Never played on an Atari! Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Leeds, England Age: 29 Posts: 258	You could always modify a PC drive, there's docs on Aminet that tell you how. __________________ -=Firthy2002=- --------------- My LiveJournal

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26 February 2005, 14:53	#2
Akira Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: # Posts: 12,584	Its not a matter of the disk more a thing of the drive. Any HD disk will work, for assurance, cover the extra hole they have with a bit of tape. However I don't recommend using HD disks. They have a very annoying tendency of going bad real quick, specially when in use with an Amiga drive (something about densities I think)

26 February 2005, 15:07	#3
alewis Registered User Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Venice, FL Age: 46 Posts: 520	Its because a DD drive actually writes a stronger magnet field to the disk than a HD drive does. Odd that might seem, it is logical if you think about it; the smaller sectors need a weaker magentic field, otherwise the fields affect each other. Get a HD density drive for the Amiga, such as the PowerXL - you might need to search a bit on ebay for one, as I dont think Power Computing (www.powerc.co.uk) or eyetech (www.eyetch.co.uk) do them anymore.

26 February 2005, 16:30	#4
lloyd Mehh :D Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bristol, SW UK Age: 50 Posts: 242	It's also because the composition of the magnetic surface is different. It's like trying to record on a metal or CrO2 tape in a standard ferric tape deck. It works, but it sounds all wrong when you play it back. Magnetic flux density is what it's all about, to use the tech term.....

27 February 2005, 00:56	#5
Johnyt Zone Friend Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Weymouth, Dorset, England Age: 31 Posts: 62	I see ok so wheres the cheapest place for DD disks then lol

28 February 2005, 06:09	#9
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 32 Posts: 4,061	The PC drive still won't make HDs reliable as it'll be modified to work as a DD drive. Use the search option to find the previous time we discussed about this (perhaps this warrants a sticky?), I posted some links to DD disks there. Also, Google Is Your Friend. Learn it, Use it, Love it.

28 February 2005, 06:19	#10
TikTok Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: San Salvador, El Salvador Age: 32 Posts: 642	Could this question (using HD floppies in DD drive) be added to one of the FAQs? It seems to come up every now and again.

28 February 2005, 14:25	#11
Johnyt Zone Friend Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Weymouth, Dorset, England Age: 31 Posts: 62	This is all qhuite funny now considering that even back in 1993 I have been using HD disks and Even ED disks. My farther worked for BT and could get them "cheap". I have only over the past few months been getting back into all this scince 1995/96. I must be an exeption to your rules here because last moth i tried every single one of my floppy's all games apps ect. And out of the disks that faild were mostly the DD disks even some game origanls faild. In total I have 287 disks ( inc origanal games ) 30 DD disks faild, 6 HD failed, 3 Game origanals failed, and 0 4mb ED disks failed. So I guess from what you are saying I have been lucky with the HD disks. Also: Yeah I have been trying WHD load. So how do you get it to wokr with out floppies?

28 February 2005, 15:13	#12
Akira Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: # Posts: 12,584	YOu get WHDLoad to work without floppies by pre-installing the games in your PC with WinUAE nd IPFs, or download them pre-installed, nd then transfer them to the Amiga already HD installed

02 March 2005, 20:20	#14
lloyd Mehh :D Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bristol, SW UK Age: 50 Posts: 242	I have an old original (ie, "proper") Amiga external drive - the CBM 1011. It writes HD floppies just fine, and they seem reliable, but the Mig's internal drives (in all my machines) and the other two external drives I have won't even format them. So yeah, Jope is right with what he says.

02 March 2005, 21:09	#15
dkovacs Registered User Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Goderich Ontario Canada Age: 36 Posts: 64	I formatted 3 HD disks last night, one as a 720Kb Cross Dos disk to move files from my PC to Amiga 1200, and the other as Amiga, as I needed to make a bootable disk to install the squirrelSCSI drivers. They all failed the first time I tried to format, but all worked fine the 2nd time I formatted them. My new PC will not read DSDD disks, but my older one will fine.

04 March 2005, 19:39	#16
lloyd Mehh :D Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bristol, SW UK Age: 50 Posts: 242	Eh? Your new PC won't read DSDD disks? Assuming we are talking about 3.5" DSDD disks rather than the older 5.25" disks, I bet it will - format as 720Kb not 1.4 MB.

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