Re: How many K does a ProDOS Apple IIe of IIc floppy hold?

[Slick <PAYSlick_RCBD@hotmail.com>]

David Empson wrote:
> 
> <slick_RCBD@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Stainless Steel Rat wrote:
> > >
> > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > >
> > > Nathan Mates writes:
> > >
> > > >    Maximal capacity is 140K (35 tracks * 4K/track).
> > >
> > > There are several instances of a hack that will push that up to 160K.
> > > Early 5.25" disk mechanisms (Shugart?) could not reliably handle more than
> > > 35 tracks.  But the next generation, starting with the second or third
> > > manufacturing run of the Disk ][ drives (IIRC) could handle 40.
> 
> Are you sure about that, and does it apply to later drives?  My Apple
> 5.25 Drive does NOT support 40 tracks.  It seems to be able to access 38
> reliably, but the 39th one is dubious and the 40th is unavailable.
> 
> > > ProDOS can handle much larger volumes, but I do not know of any similar
> > > hacks for it.
> 
> It is possible to patch the 5.25" driver to increase the maximum number
> of blocks per disk, but I've never looked into the details.
> 
> One problem with any such patch (to either DOS 3.3 or ProDOS) is that
> many utility programs are likely to have trouble dealing with the
> nonstandard capacity, and you are forced to use a patched operating
> system to access the disk at all.  (Careful labelling is advisable.)
> 
> --
> David Empson
> dempson@actrix.gen.nz
> Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand
I didn't think of hacking ProDOS. I don't use DOS 3.3 for serious work
at all. All my productivity uses ProDOS and school work gets transfered
to MS-DOS. I am thinking of trying this with game disks or saved game
disks. If it screwes up the disk, it is no great loss.
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