Share your knowledge on these two classic MPCs
By chaseaston Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:47 am
I appreciate the advice, thanks. I would moreso like an answer to my question about using the IBM 1.44 floppies though. I have DS/DD floppies at the moment, but I am thinking ahead about makin things easier.
By Clint Sat Oct 29, 2011 8:26 am
Use what you like if you want to screw your machine.

Or take the advice already given by people with experience.

You are thinking of making things harder, not easier.
By Acid Mitch Sat Oct 29, 2011 8:43 am
chaseaston wrote: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? !


You can use HD disks if you put a bit of tape over the little hole in the corner, but this is not advised as the data will not be safe.
The magnetic fields in DD and HD disks are different and drives act differently depending on if they are using HD or DD disks.
Basicly the MPC60 drives can not manipulate the magnetic fields in a HD disk well enough(it only affects particles on the surface and doesnt penetrate deeply enough,amongst other things) to make the data stay for long periods of time, so you might save to a disk that works the first time you use it but you wont get the data back off it at a later date. It might happen the second or third time you try to load data or it might be weeks/months later. The failure time will be random.

No matter what disks you use the MPC can only read/write 720kb(technicaly 800kb, but its best to think of it as 720kb). Brand and format is irrelevant. All that matters is density and sides used.


chaseaston wrote: Please be thorough as I haven't used floppies for years and have never used them in an MPC. Thanks!


Please be thorough with the search function as this info has been available for years. The info holds true no matter what you use. The MPC60 is not special in the way it handles floppies.
Last edited by Acid Mitch on Sat Oct 29, 2011 9:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
By Acid Mitch Sat Oct 29, 2011 8:45 am
clint246clint wrote: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.


That's about the height of it.
By chaseaston Sun Oct 30, 2011 11:11 am
Thanks so much Acid Mitch! I really appreciate how well you explained it - everyone has to start somewhere and I am starting again with this technology. I was even ignorant to how powerful and dense this forum is, so thanks for opening my eyes by communicating so well. Peace!