From: William Levak (wlevak_at_grex.cyberspace.org)
Date: 2005-11-02 06:37:21
On Tue, 1 Nov 2005, [ISO-8859-1] Hársfalvi Levente wrote:
> DD disks used to have a thin but noticeable ring around the hole of the
> center of the disk; HD disks don't.
This practice changed considerably through time, and from one manufacturer to
the next. It is not a dependable indicator.
> > I think you're trying to find out if your disks are DD or HD, right? I
> > think that has nothing to do with the terms hard or soft sectored.
> >
> > But to find out if your disks are DD or HD, do this:
> > Just format one, copy some files onto them (in your 1541), then load the
> > files a couple of times. From what I experienced the chances of loading
> > a file on a HD disk are miniscule. So, if everything loads fine they
> > should be DD, if you get load errors, they're HD.
There were also SD and QD disks. DD and QD are OK for Commodore drives.
The others are not.
Most manufacturers either printed or stamped a batch number on the back of
the disk. Disks with the same batch number can be depended upon to be the
same type. Disks with similar, but different, batch numbers may not be
the same type, since most manufacturers made many different types of
disks.
Disks that have been used a lot may need to be bulk erased. The erase
head on the disk drive is not as good as a bulk eraser. Bulk aresers for
audio or video tape also work well on floppy disks.
Sorting out which is which is a lot of work. 5.25 disks are still
available and are cheaper than they used to be. It may be a lot easier to
just buy some, especially if you can find a dealer that is still stuck
with a stock of them, which he may be glad to get rid of at a reduced
price. I still see unopend boxes for sale at rummage sales.
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