Re: Question

[wsmith@NOSPAM.ctron.com (Will Smith)]

On 11 Feb 1998 23:55 -0500, spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)
wrote:

|>    Those will work exactly like standard 800K double density disks--you
|>can format/read/write and even boot from them with no problem. 

more-or-less, yes.  however, caution is advised due to the functional
defferences.  if you're aware of the manner in which floppy drives
write data to the diskettes, you know that high-density drives have to
be able to write more information in the same amount of space that a
double-density drive would.  that forced the manufacturers to use a
(slightly?) different material for the floppy coating...  it might
give some people no trouble at all, yet give others the "Mother of all
Nightmares"...  8\  better to err on the side of caution.

|>Rumour has
|>it double density 3.5 floppies are merely 1.44 MB disks that did not meet
|>high quality testing standards (this would explain why some 800K disks
|>have an imprint where the HD detection notch is normally found).

nope.  the imprint is largely because of the fact that except for the
extra notch, the 3.5" floppy case is identical.  it's cheaper in the
long run to just make  one type of case, and then poke out the second
notch if necessary.

|>    Speaking of 5.25 disks, under no circumstances will a high density
|>5.25" diskette work in a double density drive. If you attempt to even
|>format one, the drive will just grind and report errors throughout the
|>entire process. The magnetic coating is very different.

same situation on the 3.5" floppies.

hasta...

---
William Smith
#include <disclaimer.h>

SPAM bait: msupport@microsoft.com askbill@microsoft.com
           resume@microsoft.com  billg@microsoft.com
           root@localhost  postmaster@localhost
           webmaster@localhost   president@whitehouse.gov