Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!ucla-cs!usenet From: wales@valeria.cs.ucla.edu (Rich Wales) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Subject: Any dual-head 360K/1.2M 5.25-inch floppy drives? Message-ID: <1991May17.214849.3103@cs.ucla.edu> Date: 17 May 91 21:48:49 GMT Sender: usenet@cs.ucla.edu (Mr. News Himself) Organization: UCLA CS Department, Los Angeles Lines: 19 Nntp-Posting-Host: valeria.cs.ucla.edu As anyone who has studied the issue will be aware, the recording head designs in 360KB and 1.2MB 5.25-inch floppy drives are different. This means that the two types of drive are not totally compatible, even when dealing with low-density (360KB) diskettes. (Specifically, a disk that has been formatted or written on by a 360KB drive cannot thereafter be reliably written on by a 1.2MB drive.) In theory, I'd suppose it would be possible to design a dual-density 5.25-inch floppy drive that could work properly with both kinds of disk. Such a drive would presumably have either two sets of recording heads, or else a single set of special heads that could somehow be made to act properly in either 360KB or 1.2MB mode. Does anyone know if such a drive exists? If so, who makes it, what is the model name/number, and about how much should I expect to pay for it? -- Rich Wales // UCLA Computer Science Department 3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, CA 90024-1596 // +1 (213) 825-5683