Hi guys I was not talking about the floppy drives in PC's and Macs but about the actual disks. Double sided disks are the same whether they are used in a PC or a Mac as are high density disks. I am no expert on the structure but I know the use a magnetic material that is similiar to that used in cassete tapes. The read write heads draw a line down the disk much as a snowplow would through a parking lot and the magnetic particles on either side of the head are plowed away and set aside. The particles in the center are set to either one or zero.
Because of this a high density disk which is theoratically two megabytes comes up as merely 1.44 megabytes. There is a certain amount of material wasted. I don't know on a double sided disk but I think it is 500k per side. The high density disks cram more magnetic particles on each side which causes a higher magnetic field(I am speculating, I do not know) thus the higher magnetic field. Anyway, I would sure like to get a good stock of double sided disks. Since we are on the subject, my MacSecrets book tells me that the old single sided disks have magnetic particles on both sides, just as the double sided disks do, but when they were manufactured, the second side was not tested(since nobody had a double sided drive) so it is possible to format them as double sided. I have noticed that the quality of the cases on those old disks is excellent. I do not know if that indicates a long life for the disk but the floppies I buy new seem pretty cheap in comparison. Jerry P.S. (Hey thrift shoppers, I got a copy of OS9 and OS9.1 at the thirft shop yesterday for $1.50!!! You just go tto look.) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -- Compact Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/>. Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Compact Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/compact.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:compact.macs@mail.maclaunch.com> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/compact.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
