Can a PowerBook G3 floppy drive be used to make 800k disks?

[sega dude]

Can a PowerBook G3 floppy drive be used to make 800k disks for use in a Macintosh Plus?

 

[Macdrone]

Ok out of extensive research as I don't have a floppy drive in my powerbook G3 I tried my 1400c and per my suggestion don't use the drive anymore with the 1400c as it fried the motherboard with both drives I tried. Now I know why the 1400 series power area blows up. Glad I had two spares. FYI the floppies are the Mitsubishi units. When used in my 190 and 500 series they are fine. I guess it's too much load for the poor old 1400.

So the original question, the 1400 series drive is basically the same as the sony in the 190 and 500 and they write and read 800k so if you check what type from system profiler it should tell you what type of drive.

 

[sega dude]

I don't have a PowerBook G3 but I want to get one. Can a 1400 series floppy drive be used in a PowerBook G3? Basically it's luck of the draw with the PowerBook G3 floppy drives?

 

[Blinkenlightz]

The rule of thumb generally - at least for desktop Macs - is if the drive is Apple-branded, then it can handle variable speed and GCR encoding, which are the requirements for 800K and 400K disks.

As far as file system handling, there are limitations when dealing with 400K disks (which are MFS file system rather than HFS) depending on the version of MacOS. IIRC, Mac OS 8 was the dividing line there, System 7.x or lower can deal with 400K disks natively. But in any case, if you're dealing with disk images only that doesn't matter. The drive will read or write images fine and the data won't be otherwise affected unless a disk is mounted in the Finder.

 

[Macdrone]

No a 1400c series does not fit a G3. I was just trying the 1400 as it was the closest I had to a G3 with a floppy.

 

[sega dude]

Will the M3592 model floppy drive for the 1400 be able to make 800k floppies? In other words can it handle the variable speed and GCR encoding required?

 

[Macdrone]

Yes but the problem is the 1400. The drive pulls too much power, even if it works on mine and causes an IC in the power area to blow. It's literally the same drive that's in the 500 series.

 

[sega dude]

Yes but the problem is the 1400. The drive pulls too much power, even if it works on mine and causes an IC in the power area to blow. It's literally the same drive that's in the 500 series.

You have the same M3592 floppy drive? What you are saying is if I attempt to use the floppy drive at all it will blow an IC? Or only if you try to write a 400k or 800k disk?

 

[Macdrone]

I am telling you my machine blows an IC every time I try and use the floppy drive with any disk. I have two and the both cause the same action. You may have better luck. I am not going to mess with it on mine anymore. The 1400 series has a habit of IC issues from what I have seen and I have one that I have repaired.

 

[tendim]

Can a PowerBook G3 floppy drive be used to make 800k disks for use in a Macintosh Plus?

Yes; all internal floppy drives are pretty much backwards compatible back to the original compact Macs, meaning you can create 400K, 800K, and 1.44MB floppies. I am currently using a 1400C as a bridge machine. You can also read this thread for other options: http://68kmla.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22761. Note that external floppies which are not Apple branded will likely not work (e.g. USB floppy drives).

However, you have to be sure to use floppy media that is compatible. Using an HD (i.e. 1.44MB) disc may not work in an 800K drive.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Ignore Macdrone's mistake for a moment - Macdrone's mistake was using the wrong floppy drive for the machine.

If you have a computer made by Apple that has a floppy drive made by Apple that came with that computer, it can read and write Apple-format floppy disks of its rated capacity or lower.

So yes, a PowerBook G3 that shipped with an Apple-branded floppy drive can read and write 800K disks just fine. It can even read and write 400K disks just fine, although the Mac OS itself that runs on a PBG3 limits you to only doing so through the Disk Copy program, not directly mounted on the desktop.

Same with a PowerBook 1400. As long as you have the Apple-branded floppy drive that came with it (as opposed to an Apple-branded floppy drive for a different model of PowerBook,) it can read and write 800K disks just fine. And the PB1400 can even run an older Mac OS that can read and write 400K disks mounted on the desktop.