Solve : Spinrite does not see 5.25 floppy drive?

1.	Solve : Spinrite does not see 5.25 floppy drive?
Answer» I'm trying to recover some old disks using Spinrite 6.0, but it is not included in the list of drives to be SCANNED. Both A and B drives are the correct settings in BIOS. Does anyone know why B is not being recognized? Any help is appreciated.Are you using a 3.5 and 5.25 combo DRIVE or separate drives? You are sure that they both work and that they are connected properly? You know that the floppy controller on the motherboard works? There is a good data cable, properly connected, and power cables properly connected? That the drives are jumpered properly in accordance with the cable type? The drive latch lever properly closed? Is there a disk in each drive? You do know that in MS-DOS, if there is one floppy drive only, the B drive letter is an alternate drive letter so you can switch disks? That is, you put a disk in the drive, type DIR A: and you get a list of the files on the disk. If you then type DIR B: you get a prompt to take out the disk and put another one in. After that, you can refer to the 2 disks by the letters A: and B: Information here about floppy drive configuration http://www.pcmech.com/article/floppy-drive-configuration/ Is the bios setting right for the 5.25 drive size? (360/720 Kb) additionally if it's the middle of the cable be sure to remove any terminating resistor block, if there is one. Also most half-height 5 1/4 floppy drives have a group of jumpers labeled "DS1" through "DS3"... honestly I cannot say what these do, but the drive I have here is set to DS1, and I believe it was used as a B: drive recently.Try to just use 5.25 and unplug the 3.5 and it might work that is what i do on my vista and it works fine. Quote from: BC_Programmer on March 23, 2009, 07:24:21 AM Most half-height 5 1/4 floppy drives have a group of jumpers labeled "DS1" through "DS3"... honestly I cannot say what these do, but the drive I have here is set to DS1, and I believe it was used as a B: drive recently. Floppy controllers used to support up to 4 drives, DS0 to DS3. MODERN controllers tend to support 2 only, drive A: = DS0 and drive B: = DS1. Most drives are factory set to DS1, or Drive B: position. In order to use the drive as a drive A:, you use a floppy ribbon cable that tricks the computer into using the drive as A:. This is done with the use of a special twist in the cable. So drive A: must be located after the twist on the floppy ribbon cable. To use a non-standard floppy cable without a twist, the DS jumper on the A: drive needs to be set to DS0. Modern 3.5 inch floppy drives don't have jumpers - they are FIXED as DS1 and you have to use a cable with a twist. I am able to read and write to the 5.25 disks via Ataridsk, or at least to the disks I have formatted with this program, so the drive is recognized. Spinrite only sees the A drive, however. I will try unplugging the A drive and see what happens. Thanks

Answer»

I'm trying to recover some old disks using Spinrite 6.0, but it is not included in the list of drives to be SCANNED. Both A and B drives are the correct settings in BIOS.

Does anyone know why B is not being recognized?

Any help is appreciated.Are you using a 3.5 and 5.25 combo DRIVE or separate drives? You are sure that they both work and that they are connected properly? You know that the floppy controller on the motherboard works? There is a good data cable, properly connected, and power cables properly connected? That the drives are jumpered properly in accordance with the cable type? The drive latch lever properly closed? Is there a disk in each drive?

You do know that in MS-DOS, if there is one floppy drive only, the B drive letter is an alternate drive letter so you can switch disks? That is, you put a disk in the drive, type DIR A: and you get a list of the files on the disk. If you then type DIR B: you get a prompt to take out the disk and put another one in. After that, you can refer to the 2 disks by the letters A: and B:

Information here about floppy drive configuration

http://www.pcmech.com/article/floppy-drive-configuration/

Is the bios setting right for the 5.25 drive size? (360/720 Kb)

additionally if it's the middle of the cable be sure to remove any terminating resistor block, if there is one.

Also most half-height 5 1/4 floppy drives have a group of jumpers labeled "DS1" through "DS3"... honestly I cannot say what these do, but the drive I have here is set to DS1, and I believe it was used as a B: drive recently.Try to just use 5.25 and unplug the 3.5 and it might work that is what i do on my vista and it works fine. Quote from: BC_Programmer on March 23, 2009, 07:24:21 AM

Most half-height 5 1/4 floppy drives have a group of jumpers labeled "DS1" through "DS3"... honestly I cannot say what these do, but the drive I have here is set to DS1, and I believe it was used as a B: drive recently.

Floppy controllers used to support up to 4 drives, DS0 to DS3. MODERN controllers tend to support 2 only, drive A: = DS0 and drive B: = DS1. Most drives are factory set to DS1, or Drive B: position. In order to use the drive as a drive A:, you use a floppy ribbon cable that tricks the computer into using the drive as A:. This is done with the use of a special twist in the cable. So drive A: must be located after the twist on the floppy ribbon cable. To use a non-standard floppy cable without a twist, the DS jumper on the A: drive needs to be set to DS0.

Modern 3.5 inch floppy drives don't have jumpers - they are FIXED as DS1 and you have to use a cable with a twist.

I am able to read and write to the 5.25 disks via Ataridsk, or at least to the disks I have formatted with this program, so the drive is recognized.

Spinrite only sees the A drive, however.

I will try unplugging the A drive and see what happens.

Thanks

Solve : Spinrite does not see 5.25 floppy drive?

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