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From: sfp@mars.ornl.gov (Phil Spelt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.multimedia,comp.misc
Subject: Re: Diffs between DD & HD disks
Message-ID: <1991Apr12.130201.15868@cs.utk.edu>
Date: 12 Apr 91 13:02:01 GMT
References: <1991Apr6.170017.24990@news.iastate.edu>
Sender: usenet@cs.utk.edu (USENET News Poster)
Reply-To: sfp@mars.epm.ornl.gov (Phil Spelt)
Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab
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In article <1991Apr6.170017.24990@news.iastate.edu> jdwhite@iastate.edu (White Jason David) writes:
>
>	In a recent catalog from The Software Labs, I saw an ad for a "Disk
>Doubler".  It's a $34 piece of hardware that puts a hole in DD disks to make
>disk drives think that they're HD disks.  Here are an excerpt from the ad:
>
>	...will convert your low cost 3 1/2" 720K disks to work at high cost
>1.44MB disks with NO COMPROMISE in media reliability. [...] This is possible
>because there is no difference at all between the media in 720K and 1.44MB
>disks used today! ...
>
>
>This ad is EXTREMELY bogus!  I can tell many horror stories of people who have
>attempted to do this, only to lose data in a matter of days.  I know that there
>IS a diffenence in the type of media used in DD and HD disks, but this ad
>really surprised me.  I'd like to know what you netters think of this ad.
>I hate to think of all the people out there that believe this ad.
>Please post your comments to the net.

At least in the past, it is my understanding that disk surfaces are inspected
at manufacture to ascertain their integrity.  Those that "pass" are used in
the HD disks, those that do not are used in DD disks.  HD information storage
requires *MUCH* more of the medium's magnetic surface than does DD, so I agree
with this posting, and had the same skepticism for that ad!

There really "Ain't no free lunch"!!!

=============================================================================
MIND.  A mysterious form of matter secreted by the brain.  Its chief activity
consists in the endeavor to asscertain its own nature, the futility of the
attempt being due to the fact that it has nothing but itself to know itself
with.   -- Ambrose Bierce
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Phil Spelt, Cognitive Systems & Human Factors Group  sfp@epm.ornl.gov
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Any opinions expressed or implied are my own, IF I choose to own up to them.
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