Re: Reformatting 720 KB IBM diskettes

[dalloff@gcfn.org (Dave Althoff Jr)]

Adalbert Goertz (goertz@cyberspace.org) wrote:
: re:
:    I couldn't find a single point in which they differ *physically* from
: 800KB diskettes I have, are they in fact the same?
:    My guess is that they are the same thing but that IBM's formatting
: >>
: Adalbert Goertz responds >>>>>>>>>>>>
: >>
: Your assumption is correct.

No, the assumption is technically incorrect.

There is a physical difference, though not a *visible* physical
difference, in that Apple puts more sectors on the outer tracks of the
disk than anybody else does.  If you have a really early Apple
drive...preferrably a 400k (single sided) Lisa or Macintosh drive, you can
really tell that there is something strange going on as the drive rotation
speed varies with the head position.  You can hear the speed changing.

Someone else already gave the technical explanation...

--Dave Althoff, ][.
-- 
    /-\        _       _          *** Thanks for a great season!! ***
   /XXX\      /X\     /X\_      _     /X\__      _     _        _____
  /XXXXX\    /XXX\  _/XXXX\_   /X\   /XXXXX\    /X\   /X\      /XXXXX
_/XXXXXXX\__/XXXXX\/XXXXXXXX\_/XXX\_/XXXXXXX\__/XXX\_/XXX\_/\_/XXXXXX