Re: Can I tell if a floppy is double sided by appearance?

[saw@apple2.REMOVE.com (Alan W.)]

On Mon, 29 Jun 1998 22:07:34 -0500, Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>
wrote:

>JGrav89894 writes ...
>> 
>> Is there a way I can tell if an old floppy (5 1/4) is double sided by looking
>> at it? Is there something to look for?(marks,notches, etc.)
>>
>
>
>     In general, aside from some label, no.
>
>     Sure, a diskette notched on both left and right edges is a good
>bet; but, this seems hardly ever to have been done for new diskettes. (I
>do not recall ever coming across a new 5.25" diskette notched on both
>sides.)
>
>     There may be some very old 5.25" diskettes with an oxide coating on
>just one side-- probably, the oxide would be on the back (bottom) side--
>and it would be pretty easy to see the difference. If you find one, keep
>it, since it is something of a rarity.
>
>     5.25" diskettes are routinely double-sided whatever the
>designation. The difference in labeling and cost reflects whether or not
>both diskette sides (or both sides of the master sheet) were tested. 
>
>     Mainly, "Single-sided" means just 'side one' is guaranteed;
>"Double-sided" means both sides are guaranteed. Users have been notching
>"Single-sided" 5.25" diskettes and using both sides for years. (The
>first time a friend punched one of our "Single-sided" diskettes and
>showed how Side Two could be INITed and used, I was shocked and amazed.
>"Wow! Twice as much storage space!")
>
>     
>
>Rubywand
My brother and I used to discuss this theory some years ago.  The
question we always got stuck on was, "If it is certified as 'Single
Sided', and there are read/write slots on both sides, how does the
disk maker know which side is going to be used and to certify?"  This
is because we didn't, and I still don't, know if all single sided
drives have the read/write head on the "top" or the "bottom" of the
drive....

The only thing we could think of was that the media was "good" on
either side, but that double sided didn't allow the data to "bleed
through" to the other side.

Things that make you say "Hummmmm...."