---
title: "Directory Track Reader"
type: "article"
slug: "directory-track-reader"
url: "http://localhost/article/directory-track-reader/"
markdown_url: "http://localhost/article/directory-track-reader.md"
published_at: "2025-07-27T01:33:52+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-06-21T23:36:24+00:00"
featured_image:
  url: "http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20230809-041332.jpg"
excerpt: "The following program was written on an old model Zebra Disk Drive. Owners of the-newer FDD 3000 may wish to run this program and report on the results. I don’t know whether there are any software differences between the two models. The disk drive controller formats the 3 inch disk into 40 tracks, numbered 0…"
category:
  - name: "The Data Expansion"
    slug: "the-data-expansion"
    taxonomy: "category"
    url: "http://localhost/category/periodicals/the-data-expansion/"
post_tag:
  - name: "FDD 3000"
    slug: "fdd-3000"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/fdd-3000/"
  - name: "Full Text"
    slug: "fulltext"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/fulltext/"
  - name: "TS 2068"
    slug: "ts2068"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/ts2068/"
  - name: "Type-in program"
    slug: "type-in-program"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/type-in-program/"
model:
  - name: "Timex/Sinclair 2068"
    slug: "ts-2068"
    taxonomy: "model"
    url: "http://localhost/model/ts-2068/"
indiv:
  - name: "Mike Finn"
    slug: "mike-finn"
    taxonomy: "indiv"
    url: "http://localhost/indiv/mike-finn/"
publication_r:
  id: 50143
  title: "The Data Expansion"
  type: "periodical"
  url: "http://localhost/periodical/the-data-expansion/"
authors_r:
  - name: "Mike Finn"
    slug: "mike-finn"
    taxonomy: "indiv"
    url: "http://localhost/indiv/mike-finn/"
volume: "5"
issue: "3"
issues_articles:
  - id: 50245
    title: "The Data Expansion v5 n3"
    type: "issue"
    url: "http://localhost/issue/the-data-expansion-v5-n3/"
pages: "13-14"
pubdate: "March 1988"
archive_link: false
---

The following program was written on an old model Zebra Disk Drive. Owners of the-newer FDD 3000 may wish to run this program and report on the results. I don’t know whether there are any software differences between the two models.

The disk drive controller formats the 3 inch disk into 40 tracks, numbered 0 to 39; each containing 4K bytes. Each track is subdivided into 16 sectors, numbered 0 to 15; each containing 1/4K or 256 bytes. The first four tracks (0 to 3) are reserved for the operating system. Track 4 contains the directory. Tracks 3 through 39 contain the files you saved to disk. When a disk is initially formatted, TOS sets up 40 tracks, writes a copy of TOS to tracks 0 through 3, places the disk name in the first sector of track 4 and sets all unused bytes to 0E5h (229d).

The Zebra Disk Drive-Technical Manual remarks that the contents of the directory track can be read using the extended Basic command INPUT #0. After some trial and error. I found a suitable method to read this track using a Basic program.

I numbered this program beginning with line 200. You may wish to merge this program with a utility program which reads disk headers. One such program is Chuck Dawson’s DISKREAD, which was published in Vol.1,. No.1, of the (now defunct) T.0.P.S. newsletter. DISKREAD, or a similar utility, could be used to obtain further details on the directory contents.