Chuck(G)
25k Member
I process a lot of floppy disks, as you probably know. For the garden-variety 5.25" disks, I use the closest to hand. I had a bunch (44) of RX50 (DECmate iI) floppies to read. All read perfectly, save one, where the software insisted that the drive wasn't ready. For this batch, I was using the 1.2M side of a Teac FD505. Puzzling... So I moved to another system, also with a 505. Same thing. Then I finally moved to a system with an FD55GFR. Bingo--read perfectly with no issues. All systems were using the same software.
Looking at the hub ring area, the questionable disk showed signs of being burnished on one side--the oxide layer was shiny. (Real RX50 floppies don't use hub reinforcements). Looking at the thing working in a real drive, it was apparent that the 505 wasn't gripping the disk--the motor was turning, but not the cookie. The FD55 uses a very different hub clamp from the FD505.
Just something to tuck away in the back of my mind...
Looking at the hub ring area, the questionable disk showed signs of being burnished on one side--the oxide layer was shiny. (Real RX50 floppies don't use hub reinforcements). Looking at the thing working in a real drive, it was apparent that the 505 wasn't gripping the disk--the motor was turning, but not the cookie. The FD55 uses a very different hub clamp from the FD505.
Just something to tuck away in the back of my mind...