Question on a 8" drive Shugart 851

[Gerardcjat]

I would like to connect it to my PC/XT but first of all, I have a question on the drive itself.

I understand that a 851 is able to "decode" HARD SECTORS through photo-transistors
But what I do not know :

Does that means that this drive can ONLY read/write HARD sectored diskettes
or can it be used ALSO as a SOFT sectored drive ??

I read the doc. on Bitsavers but it is not clear for me

Side question : I have also a Tandon 848-1. Would it be much wiser to start with this one ??

 

[Chuck(G)]

All this means is that the drive has the ability to separate sector marks from the index and run them to a separate pin. That is, you still get a single index pulse per revolution, not 33. The drive will work with soft-sectored media just fine. In point of fact, it's also possible to treat hard-sectored media as soft.