TI- compatible 3.5" drive

[atrax27407]

I'm looking for a working TI-compatible 3.5" disk drive preferably already jumpered to respond as DSK2 (mine has gone "out to lunch). If someone has one that is surplus to their needs, please send me a PM with price requirements. Thanks. 

[+OLD CS1]

I have two boxes of 3.5" drives I can test out for ya.  Take me a couple of days.  I do not have any more working 720k drives, only 1.44MB.

[atrax27407]

That's fine - I can cover the hole. I have one 720K as DSK1. Just let me know the price.

[barry.peterson]

I have some...

 

 

[+OLD CS1]

I have several candidates that I will be testing tomorrow.  The jumper for DSK2 should be the standard DS1 strap, so that will not be a problem.  I just need to remember which ROM set I have for my floppy controller and which DIP switch I need to set.

[atrax27407]

Standing by . . .

[+OLD CS1]

Cool.  Turns out my DSK2 is 80 track.  What color face you need?

[atrax27407]

Beige would be great! It will run on a 40 trk TI, correct?

 

Edited October 1, 2020 by atrax27407

[+OLD CS1]

14 minutes ago, atrax27407 said:

Beige would be great! It will run on a 40 trk TI, correct?

I wanna say, "yes," but I am not certain.  I am using a CorComp with the 40/80/40 ROM set, the 3.5" in the 80 position of the chain (DSK2.)  It is working fine there, and I can hear the head motor double-stepping so it uses the full surface of the disk.

 

I just tested three standard PC drives: black Panasonic (nice and quiet,) grey Sony (HP branded,) and a beige Samsung.  I formatted on each drive, wrote and read on each, including taking written files from one drive and reading them on another.  I have more if you need a spare to keep on-hand.

[atrax27407]

I have a BWG controller but it is all 40-trk drives. Can you test in in a 40-trk position and see if it works? The bezel color is not critical.

 

Edited October 1, 2020 by atrax27407

[+OLD CS1]

Will do even better -- will test with a BWG, too.  Dinner first.  Then, does the head on your drive not step across the entire surface?

[atrax27407]

Don't know. The BWG will do DSDD= 1440 sectors. I use standard 720K and 1.4M 3.5" disks. Send me a PM with your PayPal info. As I said the bezel color is not critical.

Edited October 1, 2020 by atrax27407

[+OLD CS1]

Okay; good to go.  All of the PC drives I have tested with the BWG work just fine.  I have little reason to suspect these will not work

 

Something to note, which is probably elsewhere, as well: the head only traverses half of the surface of the disk, using 40 tracks on each side versus the 80 tracks available.

 

It also seemed that it would not write reliably onto DD disks, but would on HD disks if I taped over the HD hole.  Do you get the same results?

[atrax27407]

Yes, and they will also handle 720K disks as well since there is no HD hole.

[+OLD CS1]

I missed this detail, too: I have a Myarc DDCC-1, not a CorComp disk controller.  I have a couple of other CorComp cards, but not a disk controller.