[rescue] 3.5" floppy drive question(s)

[Curious George]

--- On Sat, 10/11/08, Curtis H. Wilbar Jr. <rescue at hawkmountain.net>
> Was wondering if 3.5" HD floppy drives can be jumpered/used in
> a system that only supports 720K, using them as 720K only
> drives ?

AFAIK, if you cover up the hole in the medium that indicates
the medium to be "HD", the drive will sense it as a 720K
floppy and act accordingly.

*However*, you will probably get less than ideal results this way.
IIRC, the data track on a 720K drive is wider than the *head* on
a HD drive.

If you are forced to go this route, consider bulk erasing any
media that you use and reformating it on the drive in question
(in the 720K format!)

> I only own one 720K floppy drive (wouldn't mind a few
> more).
> 
> If that is possible, and only possible with some drives,
> anyone know
> if it is possible with any of the following:
> 
> Panasonic JU-257A827P
> Panasonic JU-256A216P
> Sony MP-F17W-09 SMM
> Samsung SFD-321D/T
> Epson SMD-1300
> TEAC FD-235HF
> 
> Also, anyone know if there if it is possible to slow the
> spindle speed
> so that 1.44M can be done on machines that only have DD
> data rate ?
> (and if so, any of the above drives capable of being slowed
> ?)  Would that even work ?