https://oldwiki.cpcwiki.eu/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=OpticpowCPCWiki - THE Amstrad CPC encyclopedia! - User contributions [en]2026-08-29T19:13:46ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.25.1https://oldwiki.cpcwiki.eu/index.php?title=3%C2%BD%22_%26_5%C2%BC%22_Disk_Drives&diff=889503½" & 5¼" Disk Drives2014-01-22T01:10:25Z<p>Opticpow: </p>
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<div>These Floppy Disc Drives are not the original Amstrad standard.<br />
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Yet they were far cheaper and are nowadays easier to use.<br />
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Especially the 3½" as these disk are still available in some retailers. You can also easily find such drives in any garbage if you properly scavenge old rusty computers.<br />
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These Disks couldn't be side switched manually.<br />
The older models used only one side (360 KB)<br />
Double side (DD) or even High Density were available.<br />
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[[image:5,25_cable.jpg|200px|thumb|advertisement for 5,25" drive cable for CPC in 1990]]<br />
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==Formats ==<br />
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3"1/2<br />
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*DD = 720KB<br />
*HD : 1,44 MB<br />
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5"1/4<br />
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*360KB<br />
*1.2MB<br />
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== Beware : HD ==<br />
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Nowaday, only HD 3"1/2 disk can be found at good old retailer's.<br />
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But or beloved CPC can't understand easily the concept of High Density Disk with 1,44MB available...<br />
<br />
So you have to cheat : just put some duct-tape (scotch-tape, whatever...) on the HD Hole.<br />
Tada, a proper DD disk with 720 KB (if your OS allows it).<br />
Or a common 2x178KB with [[AMSDOS|AMSDOS]] (stock CPC firmware) - if you have a manual side switcher button of course to read second side of disk.<br />
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PC users used to do the opposite : file a HD hole on DD disk...this worked well sometimes.<br />
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You can also modify your HD drive to behave as a DD one (but this would be permanent of course).. Check for appropriate jumpers on your drive!<br />
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== A clever choice ==<br />
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A great advantage at the time (in the 80's) was to get access to CP/M sofware library, as most of those were on such Floppy Disks.<br />
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Also, those Floppy Disks were far cheaper than the exotic 3", but... few CPC users actually own such drives.<br />
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Mostly professionnal users...The common snotling Gamer couldn't even dream of this (nor even knew it possible)... until nowadays.<br />
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As the magnetic disk is bigger...well the format is bigger too.<br />
It is common to get 720KB disk (using the 2 sides, so 80 tracks)<br />
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== Software's issues ==<br />
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Many Modern CPC users replace their old 3" with an external 3"1/2, often adding a Disk drive A-B / B-A switcher (allowing the use of an external disk Drive as if it were the internal one = Drive A) and/or a side switcher to allow the use of a 3"1/2 disk like a 3" disk... switching manually the sides as needed by good old 3" disk drives (yet a decent software can do it).<br />
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The side switcher and A-B drive's switchers are needed only if you use old software (using [[AMSDOS|AMSDOS]]), as most of them couldn't really figure they were loaded from B drives, or had no such feature as double sided drives.<br />
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They were designed for good old 3" drive so the 720KB DD external 3"1/2 is not implemented.<br />
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But modern software designers can allow this fairly easily.<br />
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Orion Prime uses the Double side feature, enabling a simple 720KB disk with no manual side switches.<br />
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Rick Dangerous 128+ (1.1 add-on) seems to allow the game to be loaded from the B drive.<br />
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It is up to the CPC-scene to design their software to include those options, allowing more un-modded drives to be simply used as external B drives with no need to add extra buttons and cable assemblies on the Amstrad.<br />
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As modifying all the software library of the good old times seems impractical, yet modern era software have to use this.<br />
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== Software released on 3.5" disk==<br />
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* [[Orion Prime]] - This pure awsomeness even uses a full DD disk's 80 tracks with more than 700KB of Data, but you have to have a proper DD disk drive, as some older models may lack this feature...<br />
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== Software released on 5.25" disk==<br />
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* [[Data Media]] released several software titles for use with their [[Data Media Disc System]]<br />
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== Non 3" CPC disk drives ==<br />
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* [[Data Media Disc System]]<br />
* [[Jasmin AM5D 5 "1/4 floppy drive]]<br />
* [[KDS 5¼" Disc Drive]] ([[KDS Electronics]])<br />
* [[F1|Vortex Disc Drives]] ([[Vortex Computersysteme|Vortex]])<br />
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*any scavenged rusty junk may be good enough nowaday, if you have a 664 or 6128...<br />
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== Guides ==<br />
[[Guide on how to connect a 3.5]]<br><br />
[[Guide on how to connect a 3.5" drive to a CPC6128/664]] with photos<br />
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[[Amstrad Computer User]] magazine published a two-page guide on how to connect a 5.25" drive to a CPC 464:<br />
<gallery><br />
image:ACU8505-082.jpg<br />
image:ACU8505-085.jpg<br />
</gallery><br />
[[Category:Hardware]][[Category:Peripherals]][[Category:DATA Storage]]</div>Opticpow