Question about Intel disk formats

I've got some 8" disks that are apparently double density (the manufacturer label says so). I thought they were Intel ISIS formatted disks (which Eric Smith said would make them M2FM and uncompatible with anything other than an Intel MDS development machine) but I'm not so sure, since I can't seem to access any on the two Intel MDS systems I have set up. Both machines have Shugart 801 drives in them, and after doing some web research, I've come to find out they are single-density only. This would probably explain why I am not able to access these disks on these machines. The disks I am trying to access are supposedly CP/M, but the labelling indicates they were perhaps used on an Intel development system (they have filenames on the label with ".HEX" file types; this may not mean anything). If this is the case, and they were formatted on an Intel MDS (and therefore M2FM), and since they are double-density, then I may not be able to read them with the machines I have. However, I want to check their format on some CP/M machine and see if perhaps I can read them. If so, then they are probably more standard DD formatted diskettes, maybe even CP/M since that is what I was told they are. If they are in a standard DD format, and I have a computer that can boot a DD CP/M system master, could I then pop these disks in the drive and do a DIR to see if I get a directory?

For those who've used these before: when I put any of the disks in question in the drive, the drive seems to seek for a few seconds, then goes off for a split second, back on again for half a second, then off (and the system crashes). The normal boot sequence for a (single density) system disk is, upon reboot the disk seeks for a few seconds, then stops for a split second, then starts seeking/reading for a few more seconds and the ISIS prompt comes up. It seems the system is trying to read the double density disks and just not seeing anything intelligible and crashes. With single density non-system diskettes, the machines will come up with something like "NOT A SYSTEM DISK". Suggestions appreciated.

Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org