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

[gclark@iwaynet.net (George Clark)]

In article <35985676.B4D61B19@swbell.net>, rubywand@swbell.net wrote:

  >      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!")

I'd heard once upon a time that this was a fallacy: the same disk used in
a PC would be written on one side, while Apple II disk drives would
actually be using the opposite side. To say one side is "guaranteed",
then,  wouldn't have much meaning, which also explains why using a disk
notcher (I still have one, BTW) wouldn't have any deleterious effects. (I
think I recall reading this in Nibble or some such a while back).

George Clark