Re: IIgs and 3.5 DS/DD Preformatted IBM compatibles

[gdr@myrias.ab.ca (Devin Reade)]

>>: This is probably a stupid question, but, is it OK to re-format and
>>: use on a IIgs 3.5 double sided, double density disks that were
>>: factory formatted for IBM compatibles?
>
>>There is nothing wrong with that at all. I tend to do it most of the
>>time. Same goes for mac disks. One that I do not recoment is that
>>you do not use high density disks and format them for use on
>>800k idsks. Not a wise I dea.
>
>	I've also heard that it was dangerous to use high density disks.  Is 
>this true?  It seems intuitively wrong but I heard that they were made 
>out of a different material that would cause problems

While the media used for 5-1/4" disks differs between DD and HD, there
is now no difference in the media used for 3-1/2" disks; the HD3.5 disks
merely require a higher level of manufacturer's QA testing.  Therefore
HD3.5 disks may be safely formatted to any of 720k/800k/1.4M/1.8M, but
DD3.5 disks should only be formatted to 720k/800k (which is all you are
able to do unless you punch a second hole in the disk).

I have about 900 3.5" disks dating back to 1987, which are mixed DD and HD.
The only disks that I have thrown away due to disk errors have invariably
been DD.  While I will eventually get disk errors on the HD disks as well,
the lack of errors to date speaks well for the stability of the media with
the Apple 3.5" drive.

--
	Devin Reade		gdr@myrias.ab.ca