Smack2k
Veteran Member
Is there a way without opening a PC to find out the capacity of the floppy drive on old computers?
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Floppy Drive Size
- Thread starter Smack2k
- Start date
Stone
10k Member
If it reads a HD disk it's a HD drive. If it doesn't, it's not.
Plasma
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2005
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Does the PC power up? If so, put in a HD disk and see if you can read it.
If not, you can usually tell the difference between 360K/1.2M 5.25" drives from the access LED color. Red is usually 360K and green/amber is usually 1.2M. I'm sure there are exceptions though.
AFAIK there are no visual tricks for differentiating 3.5" drives. 720K drives are often taller or "funky" looking compared to 1.44M that everyone is used to. But there are normal looking 720K as well.
If not, you can usually tell the difference between 360K/1.2M 5.25" drives from the access LED color. Red is usually 360K and green/amber is usually 1.2M. I'm sure there are exceptions though.
AFAIK there are no visual tricks for differentiating 3.5" drives. 720K drives are often taller or "funky" looking compared to 1.44M that everyone is used to. But there are normal looking 720K as well.
krebizfan
Veteran Member
Some drives let you change jumpers and mimic other drive types. So it is complicated.
The combo drives I know of have 1.2MB and 1.44MB drives. IBM put an asterisk on their half-height 360kB 5.25" drives. Other IBM drives had asterisks for different purposes like the kill your motherboard special server 2.88MB drives. I think some IBM 3.5" drives included capacity on the blue eject button.
Sometimes, you can figure out that the drive is most likely of a given type by the computer model. Few 808x (IBM PC or XT equivalents) have high density drives. Some IBM PS/2 models only worked with a specific floppy drive without very rare and complex modifications so you know the capacity of that floppy. IBM Electronic Eject drives have distinctive looks by model and capacity.
Opening the system is the only way to be sure what is contained within. Maybe get lucky and get one of the truly exotic drives or a very rare controller.
The combo drives I know of have 1.2MB and 1.44MB drives. IBM put an asterisk on their half-height 360kB 5.25" drives. Other IBM drives had asterisks for different purposes like the kill your motherboard special server 2.88MB drives. I think some IBM 3.5" drives included capacity on the blue eject button.
Sometimes, you can figure out that the drive is most likely of a given type by the computer model. Few 808x (IBM PC or XT equivalents) have high density drives. Some IBM PS/2 models only worked with a specific floppy drive without very rare and complex modifications so you know the capacity of that floppy. IBM Electronic Eject drives have distinctive looks by model and capacity.
Opening the system is the only way to be sure what is contained within. Maybe get lucky and get one of the truly exotic drives or a very rare controller.