Date   : Fri, 03 Nov 2006 12:49:08 +0000 (GMT)
From   : chris@... (Chris Johns)
Subject: DFS on 3.5inch - Is this supposed to work?

On Fri, 3 Nov 2006, Richard Gellman wrote:

> Now my question is, is this working perfectly, or is there some sort of
> half-way format that I've created where single-density data is being
> recorded in a double-density mode or some such silliness? I.e. if I put
> these discs into a PC 3.5in drive connected to my model B (being set up
> soon), is the humble 8271 going to suggest orifices to which the idea my
> be suitably inserted?

Isn't it an encoding difference, rather than a physical difference in the 
drive? IIRC DFS uses FM, ADFS uses MFM.

I'd expect it to work, as you can use 5.25" discs as eith DFS or ADFS (tho 
for 640K ADFS 'L' discs you really need top quality discs) in the same 
drive, therefore I'd expect the 3.5" drives to be able to handle either 
DFS or ADFS discs.

I've really only used 3.5" discs on the master compact and electron (of 
the 8-bit machines) but I've always used ADFS on them (I probably felt 
using DFS was a waste of 240K per disc!)

Cheers

Chris
-- 
  Chris Johns <chris@...             >