512k Floppy help

[fun173]

Hi,
I just recieved system 1.1 floppies for my 512k. They are formatted on 1.4mb disks. They dont seem to fit in the drive. Do i need the original 400k floppies to fit in the drive or what?

Please help, im very frustrated. This computer has been nothing but a pain in my but

[David Schmidt]

Hi,
I just recieved system 1.1 floppies for my 512k. They are formatted on 1.4mb disks.
That would be strange. The 512ke didn't come with a 1.4mb disk drive. Where did these system disks come from?
They dont seem to fit in the drive. Do i need the original 400k floppies to fit in the drive or what?
Them not fitting (physically) would also be strange. As long as you're putting them in correctly (right side up, metal door away from you) they should "fit." They won't if they aren't oriented correctly. But your 512ke won't be able to make sense of a 1.4mb/HD disk.

[rdowns]

1.4 MB floppies were introduced in the 2nd rev of the Mac SE. The 512 had 400K floppies.

[fun173]

ok. i got them off ebay. I also tried them in my 128k external drive and they dont seem to fit right either.

So the 512k wont be able to make sense of a 1.4mb floppy even if it has 1.1 on it?

[mac2x]

Been ages since I fooled with floppy disks, but I believe the answer is no.

[jodelli]

The system disks should fit regardless, if they are 3 1/2 " floppies.

They might be readable if they are formatted single sided and if your particular 512 can handle 800 k disks. Mactracker says some 512s could use these.

I had some old 800 kb floppies that were readable by dual sided 1.4 drives though. They were compatible with either of my Mac Plus computers.

IIRC my Atari ST could read PC 3 1/2" disks back in the 80s, and I know those very same low capacity disks were useable by early 680XX Macs that I owned.

They were pretty much a standard one size fits all in physical form factor.

[David Schmidt]

ok. i got them off ebay.
Can you point to the sale, please? I see this sale: 260523304003 that specifically says 400k floppies. I hope he/she/it isn't writing images on HD floppies. That would be... bad. There is also this guy selling old system disks (standard disclaimers apply, I'm not involved, etc.) :
http://www.rescuemyclassicmac.com/
I also tried them in my 128k external drive and they dont seem to fit right either.
I'm sorry, but something is wrong about the way you're inserting them if they don't fit. There was only ever one size of 3.5" floppy.

So the 512k wont be able to make sense of a 1.4mb floppy even if it has 1.1 on it?
Nope. Kind of silly for someone to sell system 1.1 in a HD floppy disk... :confused: