1.5Meg Drives?
13 messages in this thread
Hi, folks! I just recently became the proud owner of an Amiga 3000! It's a
wonderful machine. My question is: Since the 3000 comes with one floppy
drive, is it possible to install a high density (1.5Meg) 3.5" drive in the
second drive bay, and have AmigaDOS recognize the drive as HD? I've checked
the mags, but all I saw are standard 800K drives. Any info would be
appreciated!
—-Dave
Dave,
If the machine has recently been manufactured (within the last 5 or 6
months), then you might already have a 1.76MB floppy. Put in a high density
disk and format it. If it formats to 1.76, you've got one.
Don't you love when someone upgrades equipment with something neat and
doesn't tell anyone? 🙂
Darin
– via Whap!
Darin: I dbout that it would have the 1.7MB floppy, as I bought the 3000
used, and it is over a year old. Can I install a 1.7MB floppy in the df1:
position, and would it work with no problems (extra drivers, and the like)?
—Dave
Dave,
If you could order a 1.76 MB floppy from Commodore, yes. Unforunately,
they say that they don't have them. I wish that someone would turn CBM into
a better company. These things are ridiculous. If I found out that I could
install a 1.76MB floppy in my A500, I'd do it in a second (and, no, I'm not
talking about the non standard and unsupported AE drive.). Too bad I can't
order one since they "don't have them".
Darin
Darin: Commodore is one *stupid* company. If their pricing was anywhere
near log cal, I would have bought the 3000 *new*. Putting HD drives into
their machines, nd then refusing to admit they're doing it is unbelievably
obtuse.
I will borrow an HD disk from a friend and I'll try to format it to see if
my ma hine will format HD. It was originally a 3000-25/100, the 100 meg HD
was replace
by its previous owner, and a 52Meg Quantum is now in the machine. Perhaps
I may have one of those "ghost" drives, after all!
Of course, the other (slim) possibility is that Commodore doesn't even
*know* th t these drives are capable of HD operation. That would make them
just as obtuse s if they knew about it and didn't admit it. Thanks for the
info.. I'll check my present df0:, and I'll wait and see if C= finally
admits to having HD drives bef re I take the plunge and buy a df1: drive.
—–Dave
Dave,
If you just got the 3000 new, try putting a HIGH DENSITY disk in the drive
and formating. Some of the 3000 of late were shipped with the HD drive. It
is a special drive you can't order yet. There isn't a different format
command as it is in messy dos. You just have to stick in a disk (high
density) and if you have one, it will format HD. Do an info command when
done and see if you have the higher free space. It will also take a little
longer than normal to format.
JOHN – The Lost Southerner!!
John, as I told Darin, I bought the 3000 used, so it is over a year old. Is
the DOS configured so that it can recognize the HD drives if I install one
in df1:'s position, or do I have to order the drive and drivers from
Commodore?
—-Dave
Dave, according to the scuttlebut around here, the HD drive is a custom
model OEM'ed from Chinon. Apparently it cuts the motor speed in half when
it detects the HD hole in a floppy. So you couldn't just put a generic HD
drive in the machine. I wonder how difficult it would be to hack a standard
drive to do that?
-Jim
Jim: It figures C= would go through a non-standard route of introducing HD
flopp es to the Amiga. The fact that they don't even admit they exist
proves that they ve got a collective screw loose.
I'm in no hurry to install the df1: drive, so I'll just hang on and see if
these drives eventually become available. Thanks for the info!
—-Dave
Well, to be fair to Commodore, the custom chip set which does the disk IO
is apparently incapable of handling the data rate from a standard HD
floppy. I don't know why they don't just go with a controller card approach
like the pc folks.
Jim
Dave,
Not at all. What if you and a friend went into a store and each
bought a 3000. Both out of new boxes, both from the same shipment to the
dealer. You discovered you had a HD drive in yours, your friend didn't
have one in his.
IF Commodore claimed they were shipping HD drives in their
machines, your friend would have a valid claim. If Commodore said they
weren't shipping them, they you could feel lucky, but your friend would
have no legitimate gripe.
The point being Commodore obviously built in the capability to
handle HD drives (under certain conditions..such as with a specific drive)
but for some reason or other, decided not to include htat as standard at
this point in time.
In the meantime, they did have a supply of HD drives and thus they
got put into a few machines in order to simply use up stocks on hand.
I suspect that once more than one "reliable" source is found,
you'll see them become standard.
Don
Dave,
I realy don't know as I don't have one eather. Several months ago, the
news of a High Density drive was hot on the BBS. From what I can tell, the
entire process was done at the disk. There was no software changes or mods
needed. The problem is that C= won't even admit to having one and
theirfore, there is no part number. I am #1 in line when they do get
announced, but the last I heard was C= was saying "WHAT THE H__L ARE YOU
TALKING ABOUT?? NEVER HEARD OF SUCH A DRIVE."
JOHN – The Lost Southerner!!
John: The boneheads at C= seem to have struck again. Maybe we should cart
these olks away in a padded wagon. <grin> It seems like I'll just hang out
and wait un il someone admits that these drives exist (or, more likely,
correct the "error" nd STOP using them :-)) In the meantime, I'll borrow an
HD disk from a friend an
see if my machine, which originally was a 3000-25/100, may have been
equipped w th one of those HD drives. I rather dbout that it would have
been, since the dat
of manufacture is something like October 1990! <grin> Thanks for the info!
—-Dave