Society of Eight-Bit
Heathkit Computerists
A web site dedicated
to preserving the Heathkit 8 bit computers
H8D FORMAT
The
H8D image format is the standard 10 sector 40 track disk format for
Heathkit H-8 and H-89 computers. This image format stores the disk
tracks as groups of 256 byte sectors starting with track 0 and ending
with track 39. Track 0 occupies the first 2560 bytes (10 sectors, 256
bytes per sector) followed by track 1 and so on. There are a couple
ways to use these disk images with your Heathkit computer:
First, you can find and buy an SVD.
It is an electronic floppy drive that works with several
different computer models including the Heathkit H-8 and H-89. You
plug the SVD into the floppy cable as if it were a floppy disk drive
and upload the disk images to it. The computer then thinks it is
talking to a floppy drive with a Heathkit disk inside.
Second, you can use Dwight Elvey's H89LDR program and my H8D Utility
to transfer disk images back and forth to a real floppy disk. Do this
by connecting your Heathkit computer to a PC using a serial cable and
then use the software to send/receive disk images. This method will
work with a real floppy disk inserted into your computer's disk drive.