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From: gjp@sei.cmu.edu (George Pandelios)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: 5.25 HD diskette quality
Keywords: comparison defects
Message-ID: <3664@i.sei.cmu.edu>
Date: 15 Aug 89 18:31:48 GMT
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University (Software Engineering Institute), Pgh, PA
Lines: 58

Greetings Netlanders!

My AT clone has a 1.2MB diskette drive which I use for backups (using 
the proprietary format in PCTOOLS 5.1).  My question is:

  Does anyone out there have any *hard data* for the reliability of 
  5.25" 1.2 MB High Density floppies?  Is one brand(s) better than another?

I buy generic diskettes for normal use, but I want the best I can get
for backups.  Please, no anecdotal data.  If you've seen a table with
this data prepared by some independent party, I'd really appreciate 
seeing it or receiving a summary.

Such a comparison was prepared for 3.5" diskettes.  I have included the 
bibliographic info and abstract below:

 DATE      880919
 TITLE     Study reveals problems with disk quality. (3.5-inch floppies)
 SOURCE    Computer & Software News v6 n38 p16(1) 1988 Sept 19
 SUBJECT   Floppy Disk
           Quality Control
           Testing
           Failure
           Study
           Certification
           3.5" Disk
           Memory Control Technology Corp.--product specifications
 SICCODES  3572
 ABSTRACT  Only four of 25 brands of 3.5-inch flexible diskettes passed the
           full range of the standard battery of ANSI quality assurance
           tests in a recent study. Memcon (Memory Control Technology Corp),
           a maker of disk certification and duplication equipment, found
           that 12 of the 25 brands tested had at least one floppy disk
           failure during its testing procedure. The four brands that passed
           were C. Itoh, IBM, Sony and TDK. The report noted that the
           overall performance of 3.5-inch disks was very poor. The report
           will be distributed to industry analysts, diskette manufacturers
           and large volume disk buyers.


Many thanks,

George
P.S.	I have no connection with any of the companies/products/vendors
	mentioned above.  I am not endorsing any of these products/companies/
	vendors.
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  George J. Pandelios				ArpaNet:  gjp@sei.cmu.edu
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Disclaimer:  These opinions are my own and do not reflect those of the
	     Software Engineering Institute, its sponsors, customers, 
	     clients, affiliates, or Carnegie-Mellon University.  In fact,
	     any resemblence of these opinions to any individual, living
	     or dead, fictional or real, is purely coincidental.  So there.
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