Re: DSHD 5.25 disks

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article "Col.Brewster" <Macvsog@cris.com> writes...
>
>Can these disks be used on a apple //? I can't find dsdd disks anywhere.
>Most of the major stores have stopped carrying them.

    Absolutely not. It is not a question of whether it is safe to 
do, High Density (DSHD) 5.25" diskettes use media which is physically 
different from DSDD diskettes. It is impossible to even format one on 
a lower density drive (ie, Apple Disk II or Apple 5.25). I once tried 
several times, and the closest I came was the software thinking there 
were dozens of track errors on the disk (usually it won't even get this 
far, just reporting an I/O has occurred).

    This is unlike 3.5" High Density 1.44MB diskettes (which have 
the "HD" logo and extra square notch). Although it's questionable 
if formatting them to lower density is safe for _long term_, they 
do easily format as 720K, 800K or 880K. 

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca