I can't vouch for later drives, but the earliest 600RPM Sony drives were
built we no knowledge of HD vs DD, so covering the HD hole is probably a
moot point in the HP drives, though it is likely worth taping over it
for any formatting options.
It's worth noting that the speed is pretty much a moot point as well. As
long as the data is written on the disks correctly by the modern
machine, the older 600RPM drives should have no problem reading it. My
RCA MS2000 reads floppies written in modern machines perfectly fine and
that has even more oddball single sided 600RPM drives.
As someone else said, the disk loading mechanism gets very stiff as the
lubricant solidifies. It's quite easy to free it up with some IPA and
patience. I'd be very careful not to ruin the upper heads on dual sided
drives by forcing disks in and out though. Thankfully a moot point with
my drives!
Could be that the drive heads need cleaning and alignment. Have you had
any success formatting disks on the target machine, if possible?
Josh Rice
On 30/04/2024 21:06, Mike Katz via cctalk wrote:
Thank you for trying to help. My situation is unusual at best and I'm
apologize for the extra bandwidth my question is causing.
*snip*
The HP9114A drive uses a modified Sony 3.5" floppy drive running at
600 RPM instead of the normal 300 RPM. This is an extremely unusual
configuration that is different from any PC/MAC/Commodore/Amiga
situation.
*snip*
Than you again everyone for offering to help,
Mike
On 4/30/2024 2:41 PM, Wayne S wrote:
What errors are you seeing?
Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 30, 2024, at 12:29, Mike Katz via cctalk
<cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
I have tried bulk erasing 1.44 MB disks and they still won't format
in the HP9114A battery operated HP-IL Floppy Disk drive.
On 4/30/2024 12:20 PM, Joshua Rice via cctalk wrote:
On 30/04/2024 18:08, Anders Nelson via cctalk wrote:
Having grown up with 1.44MB 3.5" floppies, I have a question: is it
possible to use a 1.44MB disk and just format it as a 720K disk?
I think it's entirely possible. I'd definitely format them in a
720kb drive though to be extra safe. Though original 720KB disks
written/formatted in 1.44MB drives seem perfectly cromulent from
my experience.
However don't quote me on it, The only double density drives i have
are super early Sony ones built in 1982 and they get pampered with
NOS 720kb media (with the sliders sellotaped open because no auto
opening shutters on my drives!)
Josh Rice
