Re: apple 2 question-- HD vs. DD diskettes

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

fernande@internet1.net writes ...
> 
> On 1998-07-01 jim@calico.litterbox.com(Jim) said:
>    >And by the by, whoever said not to use high density 5.25 disks in a
>    >low density drive is absolutely right.  My understanding is they
>    >changed the magnetic media when they increased the density and it
>    >won't reliably record data from a head designed for low density.
>    >The solution?  Well, I imagine you can still get low density
>    >floppies - try business supply places, and/or your local Mac dealer.
>    >('s where I found LD 3.5's...)
>    >If not, I'd probably bite the bullet and get a 3.5 inch drive for
>    >your apple. high density 3.5s are perfectly usable in low density
>    >drives - it's the same media, the high density drive just puts more
>    >sectors on it.
> 
> Thats not quite the way I heard it.  The 3.5" floppies have different
> magnetic media between the different densities, just like the 5.25" disks.
> We (on the Classic Mac list) had a big discussion on this.  So, just like
> the 5.25" disks, it isn't the best idea to use HD disks formated as DD.
>

     True. The difference between the 5.25" situation and 3.5" situation
is that, with 5.25" Apple II drives, you can flat forget about using
High Density (HD) diskettes. With 800k 3.5" Apple II drives, HD
diskettes will often seem to work fine. However, the HD media definitely
has different magnetization properties and some users report loss of
data over time.

     For standard Apple II 5.25" and 3.5" drives, use Double Density
(DD) diskettes. Alltech (760-724-2404; http://allelec.com ) sells DD
5.25" and 3.5" diskettes at decent prices.



Rubywand