I have a ~2003 vintage NEC usb floppy drive that can read and write, but not format PC 720k disks. Inside it has a normal laptop disk mechanism, with an external USB converter board. I can look up the model if anyone is interested. On Tue, Dec 8, 2020 at 8:59 AM Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
IMHO there is no modern solid USB substitute for the 720K disk drive, for both software and hardware reasons. I'd set up a "tweener" PC for this kind of work that has an actual 3.5" drive installed and an OS like Windows 2000. You can also install a 5 1/4" drive.. Bill
On Tue, Dec 8, 2020 at 10:00 AM John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Hey folks, two asks -- I'm looking for advice:
Are there any USB or external floppy drive arrangements that are flexible like internal floppy drives for allowing formatting and/or reading of unusual sector sizes or formats?
Ex: 800KB Atari ST floppies and PC DOS disks formatted in unusual sizes
..
Second question is -what is the easiest way to clean the heads on a 3.5" floppy? If I have a bunch of 'suspect' floppies that I want to clean the head between every disk it seems a little painful to disassemble the drive enough to see the heads and clean. Are there any alternatives?
(I'm used to 5.25" drives where there's often enough space in there to wipe without disassembly). Maybe there's a good (modern) source of 3.5" cleaning floppies?
(P.S. I have a K6-3+ PC I can put a fresh OS on so I may be cleaning a legacy 3.5" drive instead of a USB floppy).
Thanks! John
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