Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!ima!johnl
From: johnl@ima.ima.isc.com (John R. Levine)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: 3.5" disk drives and diskettes
Summary: maybe
Message-ID: <2987@ima.ima.isc.com>
Date: 6 Dec 88 16:14:59 GMT
References: <10208@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
Reply-To: johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine)
Organization: Not much
Lines: 17

In article <10208@watdragon.waterloo.edu> jjboritz@violet.waterloo.edu (Jim Boritz) writes:
>In the new world of 3.5" floppies the high density diskettes have an
>additional hole on the side opposite the protect hole.  My 3.5" drive will
>not even think about formatting at 1.44Meg unless this hole is present.  My
>question is, "Can I punch holes in my 720K diskettes and use them at
>1.44Meg?"  

My PS/2 has a 1.44MB drive that doesn't care whether or not a disk has the
extra hole.  Although the oxide for the DD and HD disks is different, I
find that more often than not I can format and use a 720K disk at 1.44MB.
Doing so runs the disk/drive combination way out of spec, so I'd use it only
for stuff that you wouldn't be heartbroken to lose.  (I use mine for my
usenet archives.)
-- 
John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 492 3869
{ bbn | spdcc | decvax | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.something
Kids spend more time with their parents than parents spend with their kids.