higher density disk should be more immune from damage from magnetic fields, because to make them higher density you have to make the bits smaller on the disk. there are limits to how small a head you can reasonably make, so part of it is using a material that needs a stronger field so that only the strongest part of the field from the head has an effect, effectively making it act like a head with a smaller gap. i've no idea however if the media is intrinsically more stable by itself (i.e. how prone it is to random things over time) or if possibly these more strongly magnetized spots actually tend to self destruct each other more.
it would be interesting to know the details of the different mechanisms that degrade disk over time. i've seen 3.5" disk fail because the metal doors got magnetized after being in a metal desk drawer (the gaps in the drawer produce a very strong magnetic field as any field the desk is in, including the earths, is concentrated across the gaps in the steel). they were readable after removing the doors (they were steel on the older disk, most or all of them are now plastic). it's definitely a complex situation. obviously some disk formats can tolerate more corruption than others before it becomes a problem both because of the physical differences in how the data is written and the design of the file system (i.e. the error correction etc.). of course 3 failures of ms-dos disk isn't enough to mean a lot, since they could have been exposed to more abuse than other disk in the same stack which they may have shielded if they were on the top/bottom of the stack etc. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Hi! > > Quoting "Byron Q. Desnoyers Winmill" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > Were the PC diskettes double or high density? I want to test my > > density theory. > > All the diskettes are 5.25 inch. Not high density. ------ -- "The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism � ownership of government by an individual, by a group or any controlling private power.": President Franklin D. Roosevelt <http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1106-30.htm> -- Apple2list is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... / Buy books, CDs, videos, and more from Amazon.com \ / <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/lowendmac> \ Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Apple2list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/apple2.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/apple2list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
