Re:*3 DSHD 5.25 disks

[casa@unm.edu (Jim Pittman)]

Re:

> Subject: RE:Re: DSHD 5.25 disks       Tue, 27 Aug 1996 19:23:34
> 
> From: Jim.Low@logicbbs.org
> Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
> Organization: Web Networks
> 
> You are right: HD 5.25" disks CANNOT be used with Apple II 5.25"
> drives. You might be lucky and some of the no-name cheaper brands
> MIGHT format, but data integrity is unreliable. Double Sided/Double
> Density are the only disks still being sold that will work with the
> Apple II. Actually, single sided/single density is all that is
> required.
>  
> Almost all disks sold now are soft-sectored.  However, you might find
> hard sectored disks aon the used market (the old AES Word Processor
> used those), and they _can_ be used on the Apple II -- but not on
> MS-DOS machines.

Amen.

Old PC-clone 5.25" disks that are being thrown out often work fine
when reformatted on an Apple II. Just avoid the newer ones that are HD.

But -- recently I inherited a batch of IBM-PC disks that were so old,
they did not have the reinforcing ring around the center hole. They
formatted just fine on a Disk II, but when I gave one to a new owner
of an old Apple IIc, the new owner snapped the door shut on one of the
disks and it didn't get centered and wouldn't read! Yes, the center
hole was mangled by snapping the door shut.

In 1980 the (then) world's greatest Apple dealer, Gary Iverson, told
me to ALWAYS wait until the disk's red light turned on to SLOWLY and
GENTLY close the door. It's the only sure way to deal with these old
disks that have no reinforcing ring.

- Jim Pittman - University of New Mexico - casa@unm.edu