Need ST floppies

[Inky]

I need a new source of DS/DD 3.5 floppies for my ST. Anyone got a good one?

[+davidcalgary29]

How about this?

 

http://

http://www.oldsoftware.com/floppy_disks.html[/url]

[Gunstar]

I happen to have a BRAND NEW still shrinkwrapped package of ten DSDD 3.5" diskettes I'll trade (NOT SELL).

 

I'm looking for working copies of ISHAR 1,2&3 and Legends of Valour disks for the ST, none of the downloadable disk images have ever worked for me...new or used, don't care about boxes or instructions, just want working disks that will run properly on my 1040STf. The ones online are always crunched by the hacking teams and just don't seem to sork on anything but emulators. I want original copies (don't even care if they are originals or copies of orignals, just so long as they are working and non-crunched; on the same amount of disks the game was sold with. I don't necessarily need ALL the games I mentioned. PM me if you can help and we cna work out a trade. I also have PLENTY of used DSDD disks if you need more than ten. But I will not sell them, as they are hard to come by, only trade for above games because I'm desperate for those games.

[Hulsie]

You can use IBM HD disks on Atari if you cover the notch on the upper-left corner with electrical tape or (better yet) those black stickers that come with 5.25" disks to copy protect them. I do this all the time, and it has never failed me... Just make sure it's always on there when you actually use it, or it may corrupt the disk (I'm guessing...never actually wanted to try that.)

[Inky]

You can use IBM HD disks on Atari if you cover the notch on the upper-left corner with electrical tape or (better yet) those black stickers that come with 5.25" disks to copy protect them.  I do this all the time, and it has never failed me...  Just make sure it's always on there when you actually use it, or it may corrupt the disk (I'm guessing...never actually wanted to try that.)

 

Really?

 

I'm tempted to give that a whirl tonight.

[Hulsie]

Really?  

 

I'm tempted to give that a whirl tonight.

 

I'm surprised not more people knew about that! After posting this message, I searched around a bit on the 'net, but couldn't find any information out about it. I just tried it out a couple of years ago, strictly out of curiosity, because I noticed that the top-left notch was the only physical difference I could see between the DD and HD disks. When I found that it worked, I just figured everybody else knew about already, so I didn't say anything. Did I stumble onto something that no one's tried before??!? Maybe I'm a pioneer!!

[+Mitch]

It works but I wouldn't put critical data on it. The HD disks/drives use smaller sized tracks that are harder for the DD drives to read and corectly write to.

 

Mitch

[atarian1]

I second what Mitch said.

 

You WILL lose data after a while. It may be fine now, but not tomorrow. If you change disk drives, the new drive may not be able to read your old disks. I (and many others) have learned from experience too.

 

DON'T DO IT!

 

You can find DS/DD disks at online office supply stores such as Staples or Viking Direct. Surplus electronics stores should have them too. And of course, Atari dealers sell them too.

[LinkoVitch]

from what I read the DD HD disks use the same size tracks, but smaller sectors within that track to increase the capacity. BUT the main reason for data loss is due to the magnetic coating being more sensative and thinner on the disk. So a DD drive is more likley to generate interfearance on the surface by being heavy handed with the magnetic magic.

[+rdemming]

Years ago I also tried to use HD disks as DD disk but it turned out that is was quite unreliable.

 

If I remember it correctly this is because the magnetic material of HD disk is "harder" than DD disks. The little magnets on the disk are harder to flip. HD drives thus uses a stronger magnetic field to set the bits. With the weaker magnetic field of DD drives the bits are not completely set/reset and can fall back to their previous state.

 

Robert

[Paolo]

... and by the way, there is no sense in covering the upper left hole, since the st DSDD floppy drive doesn't have the sensor pin to distinguish between DD and HD disks, that is present in the next generation drives, HD ones.

 

Ciao!

[Hulsie]

... and by the way, there is no sense in covering the upper left hole, since the st DSDD floppy drive doesn't have the sensor pin to distinguish between DD and HD disks, that is present in the next generation drives, HD ones.

 

Really? My Atari disk drives will only format HD disks if that hole is covered. When I put them in and try to format them as double-sided, it tells me the disk is unreadable.

 

It works but I wouldn't put critical data on it.

I would agree with that, even though I really don't know much about the makeup of the disk, or how reliable this method is. It seems too "homemade" of a method to trust 100%, but fortunately I keep images of all of my ST disks and have hundreds of HD disks to spare, so I'm not worried about it.

[Gunstar]

Regardless of the reason, you DO have to cover up the hole on HD's to work on the Atari ST, it works in a pinch, but get DD disks as soon as possible. I search for them every time I'm out "thrifting" and I've come across tons over time both used and new, as well as ordering new&used from B&C (good prices).