Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!att!watmath!watserv1!watsci!batman
From: batman@watsci.uwaterloo.ca (Marcell Stoer)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: Formatting 720K disks to 1.44 Megs HELP!!
Message-ID: <236@watserv1.waterloo.edu>
Date: 29 Nov 89 17:13:48 GMT
References: <1989Nov27.212809.7241@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <1114@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM> <89Nov28.223437est.19733@me.utoronto.ca>
Sender: daemon@watserv1.waterloo.edu
Reply-To: batman@watsci.UUCP (Marcell Stoer)
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Organization: University of Waterloo, Waterloo Ontario, Canada
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I've failed to see any satisfactory explanation of what the difference is
between a 720K and a 1.44M 3.5" floppy (besides labelling).  If you look at
a 1.44M floppy, you'll notice there is an extra notch across from the write
protect notch that the 720K floppy doesn't have.  Most 1.44M drives look
for this notch to determine if you have a 1.44
or 720K floppy.  Some don't.  You can cut the equivalent hole into the 720K
disk, but you'd risk contaminating the disk media.  There are some 
companies that sell a converting tool, that does exactly this.  I don't
recommend it, however, there is no physical difference between a DD and a so
to speak HD floppy (besides the notch).  The price you pay for your diskettes
usually reflects their quality.

Marcell Stoer
CMBLC
:wq