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Why does floppy drive head calibrate so often when dumping an image to a disk?

Applies to: RIDE 1.2 and later

Note that this question targets only internal PC floppy controller – it doesn't target external devices like KryoFlux or Greaseweazle!

This phenomenon occurs only on internal PC floppy drives when dumping a copy-protected floppy image back to a floppy. To correctly write the copy-protection scheme, some commands issued to the floppy drive controller (FDC) must be interrupted before they are finished. After each interruption, the FDC must be reset to carry out the next command. If the next command is absolute seeking to a different track, the head is calibrated by the FDC.

To avoid calibrations issued directly by the FDC (and speed-up dumping of copy-protected floppy images):

1. Open the FDD access options dialog (e.g. by dumping to the floppy drive – see how).

   

2. Tick the Prefer relative over absolute seeking checkbox (Alt+P) to avoid absolute seeking where possible.