Re: DS and SS floppies

[Tony Cianfaglione <ab616@chebucto.ns.ca>]

The odd thing about single sided disks and their manufacturers was that
the makers never specified which side was guaranteed to be wrror-free and
which side you shouldn't use.  That said, I believe Apple II's and C64's
used the backside of the disk and Atari 8 bits and CP/M's used the
frontside of the disk.  Since single sided disk makers never specified
which computers the disks should be used on with the different formats
using different sides, the disks would have to be good on both sides.

It was probably when the manufacturers realized this, they decided to call
the single sided disks, double sided and be done with it.

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On 28 Oct 1999, Bruce Baker wrote:

> You know I've notched lots and lots of DS and SS 5.25 inch disks and I have
> never noticed SS disks to fail more than DD.  It has always seemed fairly
> random.  Some DS wouldn't work on the back side.  Most SS will.
> 
> I have many disks over 10 years old.  Lots of them don't work anymore,
> unfortunately.  I live in Houston and my houses have not always been completely
> air conditioned.  I suspect even if they were, some would have failed.  But I'm
> not sure SS have failed faster.  
> 
> Bruce
> 
>