Fairlight-CMI

----- Original Message -----

From: Kirk Keyes

To: Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 8:29 AM

Subject: [Fairlight-CMI] Floppy Disks - The Good, Bad, and Ugly

I've been buying up various brands of 8" floppy disks for use with my IIx. I've had good luck with just a few brands that do work - that is, I can format them and then save sounds on the disks. Many more brands of disks just will not even format.

At this point - here's the disks that have worked for me:
Maxell FD2-D (FD2-1024D-100, 1024 Bytes / record)
Maxell FD2-XD (FD2-XD-1200, soft sectored/double sided/double density, unformatted)
Maxell FD2-D (FD2-XD-M-1200, soft sectored/double sided/double density)
3M DS,DD, 1024/F

Every disk out of every box I've bought of the disks listed above have formatted with no problems.

The following brands of disks have NOT formatted or worked for me -
Verbatim Datalife (DD 34-4001, double sided, double density, soft sectored, uninitialized)
Dysan (3740/2D, double sided, double density, soft sectored, unformatted)
XIDEX (9022-1000, double sided, double density, soft sectored, unformatted)
Radio Shack (26-4960, Double sided, Double density, soft sectored)

(OK - I only half expected the Radio Shack disks to work...)

So from QDOS 5.07, when I try to format, I get this error message:
XXDISK I/O ERROR - STATUS = 32 AT 2087 ON DRIVE 1 - PSN 0139

I'd like to hear any suggestions on how to get these uncooperative disks to format so I can used them. If no one has suggestions, then perhaps people could list other disks that have worked for them so I know what I can buy with a reasonable expectation that they will work.

Thanks!
Kirk

If anyone has an