Date   : Fri, 11 Oct 1985 14:26:53 PDT (Friday)
From   : burton.osbunorth@XEROX.ARPA
Subject: Re: 96/48 TPI compatibility - and comment on cheap drives for

The heads in a 96 tpi drive are *definitely* narrower than on a 48 tpi
drive.  I have successfully "read back" from a 96 tpi drive using a
Shugart SA 455.  I use this drive in my PC AT, and have no problems
reading from the 1.2 MB drive.  However, I have not been able to get
reliable readback using the Tandon or CDC drives IBM uses in PC's, or
with Teac drives.  It all depends on the head sensitivity, and also the
media quality.  

This approach is strictly for those who don't need backups.

For those who can roll their own, for less than 100 today, you can buy
a standard half-high SA 455.    Five bucks (see PC World back pages)
gets you a set of mounting rails.  You'll find a trace on the SA 455's
motherboard for  pin 34.  Cut this trace, and voila, you now have an
AT-compatible drive.  For drives without such a trace or jumper, just
cover pin 34 with some tape.  Install the drive as drive B, following
the AT's Installation Manual instructions, and you now have a two-floppy
system.  (Always convenient for floppy duplication.)  

At this price, there's no reason to take chances.

Phil Burton,
Xerox Corp. (ex-Shugart)