best floppy drives for writing and formating legacy disks

Compatibility issues with MFM drives and GCR encoded disks and vice versa.Īlmost universal during the height of their popularity in the 1980s. Drives can be externally attached to modern computers. Windows 95 came with no 5.25” floppy drive.Ĭontemporary machines had inbuilt 5.25” floppy drives. Largely superseded by 3.5” floppies by the start of the 1990s. Only by existing users with 1980s legacy machines The ZX Spectrum +3 also used the same SS drive as the Amstrad 8256.

The upper drive remained single sided, whereas the lower was double sided and double density. The later model, PCW 8512, had two drives placed one on top of the other to the right of the monitor screen. The first model, the PCW 8256 had one single sided drive. The CP/M operating system was used by Amstrad and other computers with 3 inch disk drives, hence 3 inch disks most commonly contain the CP/M file system.ģ” disk drives were most common on Amstrad computers. However, if a disk has no label the density can be determined using the CP/M programme called ‘Disckit’ Each side also had a dedicated write-protect hole, which may be implemented differently from manufacturer to manufacturer.ģ” disks are commonly labelled either CF2 (single density) or CF2DD (double density). Because the two sides are independent of each other they are labelled either ‘A’ and ‘B’, or ‘1’ and ‘2’ to help distinguish between them. This means that single-sided disk drives can still read both sides by flipping the disk. These disks are double sided, but with each side re maining independent. Used for data storage and backup.ĭisks: Amsoft, Maxell, Matsushita, Tatung

These are the Tatung Einstein, Sega SF-7000, Osborne and several Amstrad models including the ZX Spectrum +3, PCW 8512, 8256, 9512, CPC 6128.Ī limited number of individual users and small organisations. Only a few machines have inb uilt 3” drives. Amstrad computers, which included a 3” drive, stopped being produced in the late 1990s Never reached huge popularity due to dominance of 3.5” disks and then declined in 1990s.

Best floppy drives for writing and formating legacy disks