![]() The unit could sit beneath the main console, attached to the unit via a serial cable that connected to a ROM cartridge that sits in the Famicom's cartridge slot. The system launched in Japan only, debuting in 1986 - three years after the Famicom itself. Nintendo's Famicom system was starting to flourish and while primarily cartridge-based, ideas from the home computer would crossover into the console world, resulting in the Famicom Disk System - or FDS - which did exactly what it said on the tin, offering disk-based software to run on the console we would eventually come to know as the Nintendo Entertainment System. ![]() It is significant to note that the Quick Disk utilizes "a continuous linear tracking of the head and thus creates a single spiral track along the disk similar to a record groove." This has led some to compare it more to a "tape-stream" unit than typically what is thought of as a random-access disk drive.In Western countries, the era of the console was effectively dead by the mid-1980s, with a flourishing home computer scene replacing it - but the situation was very different in Japan. Quick Disk as used in the Famicom Disk System holds 64 kB of data per side, requiring a manual turn-over to access the second side. The World of Spectrum FAQ reveals that the drives did come in different sizes: 128 to 256 kB in Cresent's incarnation, and in the Triton system, with a density of 4410 bpi, data transmission rate of 101.6 kb/s, a 2.8-inch double sided disk type and a capacity of up to 20 sectors per side at 2.5 kB per sector, up to 100 kB per disk. Another non-inclusive list of Quick Disk versions: QDM-01, QDD (Quick Disk Drive) on french Thomson micro-computers, in the Casio QD-7 drive, in a peripheral for the Sharp MZ-700 & MZ-800 system, in the DPQ-280 Quickdisk for the Daewoo/Dynadata MSX1 DPC-200, in a Dragon machine, in the Crescent Quick Disk 128, 128i and 256 peripherals for the ZX Spectrum, and in the Triton Quick Disk peripherial also for the ZX Spectrum and ZX Spectrum. A non-inclusive list includes: the Roland S-10 and MKS100 samplers, the Korg sqd1, the Korg SQD8 MIDI sequencer, Akai's 1985 model MD280 drive for the S-612 MIDI Sampler, Akai's X7000 / S700 (rack version) and X3700, the Roland S-220, and the Yamaha MDF1 MIDI disk drive (intended for their DX7/21/100/TX7 synthesizers, RX11/21/21L drum machines, and QX1, QX21 and QX5 MIDI sequencers).Īs the cost in the 1980s to add 5.25-inch drives was still quite high, the Mitsumi Quick Disk was competing as a lower cost alternative packaged in several now obscure 8-bit computer systems. The Quick Disk was also used in several MIDI keyboards and MIDI samplers of the mid 1980s. The Smith Corona disks are confusingly labeled "DataDisk 2.8 inch", presumably referring to the size of the media inside the hard plastic case. Mitsumi's "3-inch" Quick Disk media was also used in a 3-inch×3-inch housing for many Smith Corona word processors. Most FDS disks did not have cover protection to prevent media contamination, but a later special series of five games did include a protective shutter. The FDS package of Mitsumi's Quick Disk used a 3-inch×4-inch plastic housing called the "Disk System Card". The Quick Disk's most successful use was in Nintendo's Famicom Disk System. ![]() This explains the different numbering labels, while here we generically call the Mitsumi Quick Disk a 3-inch format. Nintendo packaged the 2.8-inch magnetic media in a 3-inch×4-inch housing, while others packaged the same media in a 3?×3? housing. ![]() Confusing when trying to categorize the disk but perhaps not when understood that Mitsumi offered this as OEM equipment, expecting their VAR customers to customize the packaging for their own particular use. The Quick Disk format is referred to in various size references: 2.8-inch, 3-inch×3-inch and 3-inch×4-inch. Another 3-inch format was Mitsumi's Quick Disk format. ![]()
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