MPC 60 Floppy Disks

So I searched the forums to find this answer but didn't really come up with anything..

When you buy floppy disks for the MPC 60 are you supposed to get ones that are already formatted or do you buy the unformatted ones?

I've found that there are ones that are IBM formatted, MAC formatted, and unformatted

Just found it in the manual..

ALL DISKS MUST BE FORMATTED BEFORE
THEY CAN BE USED IN THE MPC60! You should use Double Sided
Double Density (DS/DD) disks. Disks of this type are usually sold pre-
formatted to Windows 720K format. These 720K formatted disk will work
in the MPC60, but they will store only 720K instead of the MPC60’s
793K.

So is there a disk that will store all 793k? What is 793k anyways? ..lol

PattyMacAttakk wrote:Just found it in the manual..

ALL DISKS MUST BE FORMATTED BEFORE
THEY CAN BE USED IN THE MPC60! You should use Double Sided
Double Density (DS/DD) disks. Disks of this type are usually sold pre-
formatted to Windows 720K format. These 720K formatted disk will work
in the MPC60, but they will store only 720K instead of the MPC60’s
793K.

So is there a disk that will store all 793k? What is 793k anyways? ..lol

it's about half what a normal floppy can hold.... the thing you should be paying attention to is the DS/DD disk type, which is different then the typical floppy that can store 1.44mb or 1440k.

Cool, Thanks man

look for old atari/amiga 500 disks-games from ebay. I got a couple of hundred disks for peanuts.

And just format them in the MPC, its disk>option 9 if im right.

If I buy unformatted ds/dd floppys and format them in the MPC, does that mean they will hold more stuff than a formated 720k floppy?

PattyMacAttakk wrote:If I buy unformatted ds/dd floppys and format them in the MPC, does that mean they will hold more stuff than a formated 720k floppy?

no, formatting means it is blanking the disk... and setting it up to work in the machine.

Thanks for the help mr_debauch

PattyMacAttakk wrote:If I buy unformatted ds/dd floppys and format them in the MPC, does that mean they will hold more stuff than a formated 720k floppy?

A P.C. formatted floppy will not work in ur MPC, you have to format them with the MPC for it to be able to read them.

but even if you had a P.C. formatted disk couldn't you put it in the MPC and re-format it so it works with the MPC?

I just want to know if it will make things easier to get unformatted disks..

PattyMacAttakk wrote:but even if you had a P.C. formatted disk couldn't you put it in the MPC and re-format it so it works with the MPC?

I just want to know if it will make things easier to get unformatted disks..

Yes, but you will need to format it first before anything will be saved on them. Sorry for not being clear.

Don't worry about it man, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I really appreciate it

DS/DD floppies are quite difficult to find, so can I use Verbatim 2DD HD 1.44mb floppies that are pre-formatted to IBM? If so, once I re-format them in the MPC60, how much storage will I have to use? Please be thorough as I haven't used floppies for years and have never used them in an MPC. Thanks!

If you want things to work exactly as intended...

1) Read this thread, and follow the advice herein or

2) Replace the floppy drive with some type of card reader/ floppy emulator/ SCSI.

3) Get familiar with the MPC60 'Bible' at the top of this forum.