DD vs. HD 5.25" Disks for a 1541

6502dude · Post by **6502dude** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 7:05 am

Schema wrote:Hi Brian,

Next time you're in Toronto, stop by this place. They sell the Double Density disks you need. This is where I get mine.

Above All Electronic Surplus
590 Bloor West (just west of Bathurst)
Toronto, ON
416-588-8119

The last few boxes I got there were in sealed boxes and were already conveniently pre-notched for use on both sides!

Post by **Jeff-20** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 8:45 am

I wouldn't even have need for a CMD hard drive. I barely fill DD disks. Most of them finish with splat files. Those disks store a lot of programs for an unexpanded vic programmer.

Schema · Post by **Schema** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 9:17 am

Well, now that I don't use my 64HDD box on my C64 any more, I've been tempted to set it up again next to my VIC-20. I could load it up with nearly every VIC game ever made (from zimmers, funet, Arma, gb20, etc.) and have nonstop games for years.

The problem would be, 64HDD is a pain to use without a DOS wedge. Maybe that Menu program that Boray and I made a while ago could be adapted?

Centallica · Post by **Centallica** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 10:55 am

I think I'm gonna give them away at Christmas time to 3 different Non-Vic people just to see their expression of "What the @#$% am I going to do with this!".

Or the younger people "What the @#$% is this" look!

Or I could bring one disk to work and call the IT department complaining that I can't get my floppy disk into the drive and show them the 5 1/4" one when they arrive

If all else fails, frisbee anyone?
Brian

Schema · Post by **Schema** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 1:19 pm

Centallica wrote:Or I could bring one disk to work and call the IT department complaining that I can't get my floppy disk into the drive and show them the 5 1/4" one when they arrive

I have an 8" floppy that I found at a Goodwill. It's huuuuge! Plus it's older than I am!

Centallica · Post by **Centallica** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 2:08 pm

Schema wrote:
Centallica wrote:Or I could bring one disk to work and call the IT department complaining that I can't get my floppy disk into the drive and show them the 5 1/4" one when they arrive
I have an 8" floppy that I found at a Goodwill. It's huuuuge! Plus it's older than I am!

Ya that would give the IT boys a better visual with that sucker!
April 1st 2006 maybe

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 1:38 am

Check out the SFD 1001 drive at
http://www.commodore.ca/gallery/hardware/hardware.htm
Looks like a 1541 but stores 1MB on a SD disk! (Or DD probably)...

Btw, Isn't the 1541/1540 SD drives, only that DD disks works as well...

/Anders

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 5:28 am

Yes, the 1541 is single density (which back then was a rather outdated technology, IIUC) but thanks to clever GCR encoding and track usage you can squeeze ~171K on each disk side, counting the directory track. By utilizing 40 tracks, of course you get much more. I can't recall if the early Atari drives qualify as single or double density, but with the first Atari DOS I believe you only get ~88K per disk side, i.e. half as much as the Commodore drive.

If I am not mistaken, the SFD-1001 takes 96 tpi DS DD disks (were there ever 96 tpi SD disks? I think I've read about single sided, but that's something else). It is a low-profile, single unit version of 8250.

http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/s ... eriph.html

So not even this drive would chew the HD disks..

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 11:41 pm

I guess everyone knows that you can make a cut in the diskette and then format it on the other side as well. I thought I should mention it in case someone only have used tapes before...

/Anders

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 2:24 am

But if you own a 1571, it already is double sided (at least in C128 mode). As far as I know, mainly Commodore and Atari drives were single sided, while other systems tended to offer double sided read/write mechanisms from the beginning?

Of course I own a special puncher for the write protect hole, but some people mean that flipping the disk and rotating it in the other direction risks to drive loose any dust particles that have collected in the dust filter inside the disk jacket, and is a possible cause for disk corruption. I'm not sure I've observed any errors likely due to this, but now you've been warned. The only disks that really went bad were the single sided ones I used both sides of; it seemed to kind-of work, but maybe not well enough.

I have 5-6 disks of VIC-20 programs, mainly picked from Funet/Zimmers. Mostly are cartridge images and some of the better expanded and unexpanded games. I have another 5-6 disk images I've planned to transfer to real disks too. For comparison, I have about 30 disks of C64 programs and 25 tapes (C60 or C90) of turbo-taped software, and that is only a fraction of everything available. Anyone who can put together more than 20 (full, double sided) disks of top VIC-20 software has done a good job.