Apple II Csa2 FAQs Diskettes Jan1999

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Apple II Floppy Diskettes

Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground file: Csa2DSKETTE.txt  rev011


The Csa2 (comp.sys.apple2) usenet newsgroup Frequently Asked
 Questions files are compiled by the Ground Apple II site,
 1997 - 1999.

ftp://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/2/apple2/Faqs
http://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/2/apple2/Faqs


for on-line perusing via Netscape, etc. ...

http://www.grin.net/~cturley/A2.FAQs.and.INFO/CSA2.FAQs/
ftp://apple.cabi.net/pub/applegs/FAQs.and.INFO/A2.Csa2.FAQs/
ftp://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/2/apple2/Faqs/Formatted/ (double-spaced)


The Csa2 FAQs may be freely distributed.

Note: To correctly view tables and diagrams on a super-res display,
 use a mono-spaced Font such as CoPilot or PCMononspaced.

____________________________



 001- How many tracks can I use on a 5.25" diskette? 
 002- Can I use high-density 3.5" and 5.25" diskettes on my A2? 
 003- How can I tell DD from HD diskettes if they are not labeled?
 004- Some old 5.25" disks with splotches don't boot. What gives? 
 005- How can I defragment a diskette and what is the speed gain?
 006- Why aren't my old diskettes recognized by GS/OS?
 007- Can I read Apple II diskettes on my PC?
 008- Where the heck can I buy double density 3.5" & 5.25" diskettes?




From: Rubywand

001- How many tracks can I use on a 5.25" diskette? So far,
     I've heard 35, 36, and 40. What's the actual number?

     The standard number of tracks on a 5.25" diskette is set by DOS 3.3
and ProDOS at 35, numbered 0-34 ($00-$22 in hexadecimal).

     The original Disk ][ drive can usually handle 36 tracks with no
problem. Newer 5.25" drives can handle 40 tracks.

     Various modified versions of DOS 3.3 allow using 36 tracks and a
few allow using 40 tracks. These mods, especially the 36-track versions,
were fairly popular before the advent of 3.5" diskettes when an extra
track made a noticable difference in capacity. However, unless the extra
capacity is vital for some specific application, it is best to stick
with 35 tracks in order to retain full compatibility with disk utilities
(such as Copy II Plus) and other wares.

----------------------------


002- Can I use high-density 3.5" and 5.25" diskettes
     on my Apple II?

     I did some magnetization tests on Double Density (800kB) and High
Density (1.4MB) diskette surfaces. The tested DD surface produced more
than twice the deflection of the tested HD surface. Clearly, there is a
big difference in signal levels required to reliably store data on HD
vs. DD.

     In fact, 5.25" HD (1.2MB) diskettes will not work at all on Apple
Disk ][ drives. The 3.5" HD's may work fine on your 800k drives; or,
they may just seem to work fine. Either way, there's no question: a
drive optimized for DD will not be optimized for HD. If you'd rather not
'roll the dice' on your software collection, stick with Double Density
diskettes.

----------------------------


003- How can I tell the difference between unlabeled
     DD and HD diskettes?

     3.5" HD (1.4MB) diskettes come with a square notch in the upper
left corner. DD (800kB) 3.5" diskettes do not come with this notch. In
the early days of PC computing, some PC users punched or drilled notch
holes in DD diskettes and used them as HD diskettes. If a 3.5" diskette
has a circular notch in the upper left corner, it is likely to be a DD
diskette.

     DD 5.25" (360kB) diskettes look very much like HD 5.25" (1.2MB)
diskettes. About the only remotely observable difference is that DD
diskette surfaces often exhibit a more brownish cast whereas HD diskette
surfaces are generally dark grey or black.

     The surest test for 5.25" diskettes is to place the diskette into
an Apple II 5.25" drive and try to do a DOS 3.3 format. If it formats
with no problem, it is almost certainly a DD diskette.

----------------------------


004- Recently I found that some of my old 5.25" disks would
     not boot. A check showed splotches etched on the surface
     of the media. What's going on?

     As you may recall, a number of the classier 5.25" diskette brands
employed (still employ?) a lubricant on their jacket liners. While the
lube worked to reduce drag and noise, it also, evidently, served as a
growth medium for a particularly nasty plastic and/or oxide-eating
fungus!

     It's probably a good idea to check each of your old diskettes.
Immediately backup any diskettes with splotchy discolorations.

----------------------------


005- How can I defragment a diskette and what is the speed gain?

     You can defragment a diskette by doing a File Copy of all files to
a blank diskette or blank RAM disk. Files on the copy diskette or RAM
disk will be almost completely unfragmented. A whole-disk copy back to
the original completes the process. Tests show that this method produces
much speedier diskettes than using a utility intended for optimizing
hard disks.

     For a nearly full 'workhorse' diskette which has seen may deletions
and additions, you can expect the File Copy defragmentation method to
yield a 30% to 40% improvement in access speed. 

----------------------------


006- Why aren't my MECC and many other old diskettes recognized
     by GS/OS and mounted on the Finder display?

     The problem you mention is fairly common. GS/OS via its FSTs has
pretty strict definitions for what qualifies as a valid DOS or ProDOS
diskette. For example, perfectly good 36-track DOS 3.3 diskettes will
not be mounted by the Finder just because the number of tracks is 36
instead of the expected 35.      

     Naturally, copy-protected diskettes have practically no chance of
being recognized. Almost certainly, this is the reason the Finder will
not mount your MECC disks.

     You can, still, run software from most copy-protected diskettes by
just booting them.

____________________________



From: Chris Norley

007- Can I read Apple II diskettes on my PC?

     A while back I requested some information regarding the reading of
Apple II floppies by an PC. There was a hugh response both in solutions
and requests for a summary of solutions.


ORIGINAL POST:
--------------------

     We have some old data from a small NMR spectrometer that was run
from an Apple IIe. The same spectrometer is now run from a DOS machine
and we'd like to be able to access the old data from the PC.

     Does anyone know of or possess some utility to allow the data from
the 5 1/4" Apple II floppies to be read from the PC? Any hints as to
program names, ftp sites, etc. would be greatly appreciated.


SUMMARY OF RESPONSES:
--------------------