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Will an 8088 work with high density drives ?

NOTE: The use of "ISA" below is done in a generic sense.

some isa cards work on both 16-bit and 8-bit isa ports my 8088 vga card is 16-bit isa plugged in 8-bit port but still works
That's because the designer specifically designed the card that way.

There could be a 16-bit IDE controller out there that senses that it's in an 8-bit slot and when it does, switches from 16-bit to 8-bit mode ISA communication. Anybody know one?

and i guess this wont do the trick also right or it will ?
You would either need somebody to tell you that that particular controller will do 8-bit ISA operation, or you would need to find some technical information on the controller. Buying the card then trying 8-bit ISA operation would 'brave'.
 
You would either need somebody to tell you that that particular controller will do 8-bit ISA operation, or you would need to find some technical information on the controller. Buying the card then trying 8-bit ISA operation would 'brave'.

If it's a one-chip controller (like most of them), you can just look it up the datasheet for the chip to check how many bits it has inputs for. Generic one-chip floppy disk controllers are only 8-bit in all of the cases I have seen so far.

The chip on the card I use in my XT is a GM82C765B, and it's present on a 16-bit multicard. The datasheet for the chip state that it has 8 data inputs, and there is not a word about 16-bit operation.
 
That GM82C765B is just a clone of the WD37C65; probably the first single-chip PC floppy controller. I know of no 16-bit legacy floppy controllers (this lets out gizmos like Catweasels). As a matter of fact, the standard primary controller I/O ports, DMA and interrupt has been prety much fixed since the days of the 5150. Most modern southbridge chips implement ISA DMA for only that single device. Sort of like carrying the horse in the front seat of your new SUV.
 

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