Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!ukma!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!osu-cis!att!ihlpe!kimes
From: kimes@ihlpe.ATT.COM (Kit Kimes)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Was: Flight Sim II <=> XF551 incompatible forever
Message-ID: <3762@ihlpe.ATT.COM>
Date: 11 Nov 88 18:45:04 GMT
References: <2567@ihlpm.ATT.COM>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 23

>> 
>> I've been told that the XF551 uses the same drive mechanism as the MS-DOS world
>> does.  These drives use the index hole in the disk when they format the disk.
> 
> So do the Percom drives for Atari.  I know that I'm not the only  user
> of those drives (why not? mine still work fine after 4 or 5 years, and
> they are decent  single-sided,  single/double  density  drives.).   

I also have a Percom drive (the first SS/SD -AT88?) but it doesn't use the
index hole while formatting.  I can notch the disk, put it in backwards and
format it fine.  Guess that was before they worried about how to handle
DS disk drives.
> 
>> Therefore, it is not possible to flip a disk over and format the backside 
>> since the index hole isn't lined up with the sensor.
>> 
Can you still buy soft sectored disks with two index holes?  If so that
should solve your problem provided they aren't too expensive.
> 

					Kit Kimes  
					AT&T--Bell Laboratories
					...att!ihlpe!kimes