Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 14:49:17 -0700 From: Don Wilde <don@PartsNow.com> To: David Kelly <dkelly@fly.HiWAAY.net> Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: 8" Floppy drive? Message-ID: <341EFEDD.5FE6@PartsNow.com> References: <199709161522.KAA26984@fly.HiWAAY.net>
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Hey, what a challenge! First, you get your boss to sleuth-out the answers to what format and what computer they were rigged to. The programmer or MIS type who managed the machine is still alive, so if you have employee files back that far you might have luck with FOUR11.com. Second, you can verify the drive manufacturer's specs. Many libraries still have microfilm libraries which would include the tech magazines such as Electronic Design which published specs on such drives. If it's a name brand like Digital or IBM, of course, your search will be much narrower. If it is a Shugart, it's more likely that it could be any number of formats. ID'ing the sector size and track width would be more tricky, but if I remember right the spindle speed was fixed. That being the case, and the cable pinout being known, a good technician with a scope should be able to find the tracks by probing at the output of the sense amp. Most of the 8" drives used steppers to go between tracks across the platter, so track width should be easy to pinpoint. From here you could get to data, but unless it's ASCII or there's enough ASCII to help you get an idea of the data format, you'll still need to know the original software that wrote it. DBASE II, Peachtree, ??? Anyway, the data is reachable and you can get it into a computer by sinply running the drive through all tracks and reading the amplified data in through an ADC board. Knowing the OS will tell you what besides Track 0 contains file table data. Finally, 50 disks of data from those days is not much in today's terms. Once you have it in a system -- in whatever format -- you can then reduce it to ASCII or at least the binary pattern stored in digital form and decode from there. I think my first suggestion is the best, though. Remember that this IS only 15 years back, even though the technology is stone age. Those of us dinosaurs who do remember those days can still byte! -- oooOOO O O O o * * * * * * o ___ _________ _________ ________ _________ _________ ___==_ V_=_=_DW ===--- Don Wilde [don@PartsNow.com] [http://www.PartsNow.com ] /oo0000oo-oo--oo-ooo---ooo-ooo---ooo-ooo--ooo-ooo---ooo-ooo---ooo-oo--oo
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