Date   : Fri, 18 Mar 1988 06:06:36 GMT
From   : osu-cis!n8emr!oink!jep@TUT.CIS.OHIO-STATE.EDU (James E. Prior)
Subject: 8" floppy drive probles

In article <802@nuchat.UUCP> phillip@nuchat.UUCP (Phillip Keen) writes:
>In article <547@auvax.UUCP>, tech@auvax.UUCP (Richard Loken) writes:
>> I have recieved a lot of useful advice on my floppy drive.  The conclusion
>> is that I should try to clean it myself and then look for help if that
fails.
>> 
>> I got a number of addresses of places that sell 8" drives for well under
$50.
>> 
>Robert, although I reallize that 8" floppies are still good, but because you
>cannot find them hardly anymore I think you should get rid of your 8" floppy
>disk drives, but before that get 5 1/4" disk drives then get bunches of
>5 1/4" disks and copy your library over to the 5 1/4" disks and then get rid
>of your 8" disks and disk drives if you can.  Another reason I say this
is I've
>heard that 8" disks and disk drives are unreliable.  I don't know if this
>is true or not but it's a rumor I've heard.
                           ^^^^^
I have many eight inch drives.  They don't give me any more trouble than 5-1/4"
drives.  The reasons people went to 5-1/4" drives are that they are lighter,
require smaller box, require less power, and that their *list* price was much
lower.  The biggest reason was price, not performance.  Only within the last
few years have 5-1/4" drives become comparable with 8" drives.

People did *NOT* go to 5-1/4" drives for "better" reliability.  The 5-1/4"
drives were initially plagued with problems, especially with cramming too
many bits on too little media.  8" drives using MFM (ordinary double-density)
have been able to hold 1.2M starting over *TEN* years ago.  They didn't
have to pull any tricks.  They also have *twice* the transfer rate of the
same density of 5-1/4" drives.

Please don't poo-poo 8" drives just because there are big, ugly, or
unfashionable.  They work.

For someone who already has the cases, power supply, and controller for
8" drives, it is cheapest to keep them because people almost give 8"
floppies and drives away.  A friend gave me a pair of brand-new
Shugart 801-R's for free last year.  I've seen them go for $5 to $25
at flea markets.  Business are *throwing* away 8" floppies where no
one knows better to grab them for home.  At flea markets they go for
20 cents a piece.  Floppies usually appear at flea markets in lots of
50 to a few hundred.  I have enough 8" floppies to last me a long time.

For many people with 8" drives, converting over to 5-1/4" drives is dumb.
It's expensive.  They'd typically have to buy the drives, enclosure, power
supplies, and a new controller.  That's quite a few bucks, and for something
that is inferior.  It's a hell of a lot of hassle to convert the BIOS of
the old S-100's to a different controller.  It's a hell of a lot of hassle
to convert the 8" floppies to 5-1/4".

-- 
Jim Prior    {ihnp4|osu-cis}!n8emr!oink!jep    jep@oink.UUCP

Pointers are my friend.