KCS Dual HD floppy drive

[curtis]

Does anyone have experience with this unit?

I've got one, but can only get it to format floppies up to the extended double density.

Anytime I try to format a HD diskette in ANY format it gives me a "Bad Disk" error.

I did pop it open and noticed it used NEC FD 1138H drives.  I'm thinking the "H" signifies half speed.  Anyone know whether that's right?

Curtis

[amiga1260]

You need a the KCS HD Floppy drive software to enable the HD mode.

[Lizard]

I think I still have my copy around here somewhere. If you want I can have a look for the driver disk?

[curtis]

Sorry, forgot to mention I have the driver software.

Still doesn't work.

Not sure if it will affect things, but I'm running an A500 with 10MB RAM (8 fast, 2 chip) with no accelerator.

[amiga1260]

There is also a toggle switch on the back. You have to put the toggle switch in the centre to use the software.

[Lizard]

When the switch is in the upper position, the drive will be available as 2x DD drive, in the lower position you can use various hw copiers which is build-in.

[Acill]

Found this, should be useful I would think.

http://www.bigbookofamigahardware.com/bboah/product.aspx?id=773

[Amiwest]

http://amiga-manuals.xiik.net under hardware there is a manual if that helps

[curtis]

I already have the manual and it's the same as what's at the link.

Plus, it's in Dutch and that's one language I have zero experience with!

http://amiga-manuals.xiik.net under hardware there is a manual if that helps

[curtis]

That was a little bit helpful as I wasn't sure about the switch.  Did figure out by trial and error it HAS to be in the middle position on boot up.

Danged thing whiles like a son of a gun if it's not!

Found this, should be useful I would think.

http://www.bigbookofamigahardware.com/bboah/product.aspx?id=773

[curtis]

I'm really thinking the drives are out of whack as like I said, they work okay in double density mode, but absolutely NOT in high density mode.

Should I be able to swap out the drives for a couple of standard 1.44 PC drives?  Or should I be looking for Amiga HD drives?

[Acill]

I'm really thinking the drives are out of whack as like I said, they work okay in double density mode, but absolutely NOT in high density mode.

Should I be able to swap out the drives for a couple of standard 1.44 PC drives?  Or should I be looking for Amiga HD drives?

I believe they are standard PC drives in that thing if memory serves me right. Wouldnt hurt to try if you have some handy.

[curtis]

I do have several, however, they're not matched like these are.

Wonder if that'll affect things...

[curtis]

Well, I've identified 3 drives in my inventory that work, sort of.

I can format DD (880K or 960K) all day long.

However, when I try HD, I get the ever-not-so-popular "Bad Disk" error.

I had forgotten I have 2 copies of the driver disk and was able to use the 1.5 to get the DD formats working.

Other than that, no joy.

I noticed the old drives have a single jumper set.  I had assumed it was to lock the drives into drive 0, but now I'm wondering if it might affect the HD format.  A search online for NEC FD 1138H doesn't turn up much.

All the drives I have do not have any jumpers, so now I'm sort of at a loss unless someone has any suggestions.

Curtis

[Lianna]

I'm not going to translate all of the manual for you, far too much text!

First of all they say the switch can be toggled while the Amiga is on, but changing it probably won't take effect until a reboot.

Upper position: needs no driver, but you only get DD floppy support.

Middle position: you need to load the driver after booting. It says it won't recognize the drive without that driver. It also says it offers additional functionality, after that's been enabled in the software. This offers features such as 960K disks, or compressed disks. You need to use the KCS floppy drive to be able to read these, of course.

Bottom position: this is the diskcopy mode, and the driver won't work (you can't use it as a floppy drive like that). You use the BLITZ! (DF0: to DF2:), CYCLONE (DF0: to DF1:), SIEGFRIED COPY (DF0: to DF1:), or SYNCHRO EXPRESS (DF0: to DF1:) software to copy disks with this mode. They state that the other floppy drive must be empty while doing this. And you can also copy with the switch in the middle position with CYCLONE V, but it won't verify. AMI can be used to copy when booted with the switch in the bottom position, after then switching it to the upper position.

Also, none of these programs can copy a HD floppy.

Hope this is of some use.