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From: gerardka@hobbes.ism.isc.com (gerard)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.multimedia,comp.misc
Subject: Re: Diffs between DD & HD disks
Message-ID: <1991Apr11.033648.5311@ism.isc.com>
Date: 11 Apr 91 03:36:48 GMT
References: <1991Apr9.042503.18670@bilver.uucp> <1991Apr9.065832.16253@cs.ucla.edu> <1991Apr9.141703.5134@cs.dal.ca> <1991Apr11.005743.1000@zeus.mgmt.purdue.edu>
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In article <1991Apr11.005743.1000@zeus.mgmt.purdue.edu> landers@zeus.mgmt.purdue.edu (Christopher Landers) writes:
>In article <1991Apr9.141703.5134@cs.dal.ca> paixao@ug.cs.dal.ca (Nuno M. Paixao) writes:
>>I have no technical information to relay to you, just something I learned
>>from experience.
>
>Not to flame the author, but the net in general.  This is no help!
>
>This thread has been going on for a while with answres Yes you can
>and No you can't.  I've yet to see much authorative discussion on 
>the subject, and I'm very interested.  At least this author admits up
>front that he's just expressing opinions based upon experence.
>
>CAN SOMEONE WITH HARD FACTS ANSWER THIS QUESTION?!?
>

	I have a copy of a "Floppy (3.5" HD) Disk Quality Report"
	put out by MEMCON Corp., a diskette duplicating service.
	They evaluated 21 brands of high density diskettes for 11
	parameters, including:
		dropouts,
		extra pulses,
		peak shift,
		amplitude and resolution,
		variation of modulation,
		overwrite capability.
	For each parameter, a score was assigned (10=excellent, 6=avg,
	2=poor).

	Seven brands had a weighted total score > 80, and rated "good"
	(Sony, Fuji, 3M, Kodak, Memorex, BASF, Maxell).
	Three brands had a score < 65, and were rated "poor" (Opus,
	Kao, Centech).
	The high total was 83.4 (Sony); the low was 49.7 (Centech).
	No brand stood out in all tests.

	MEMCON states that HD floppies differ from DD in coating
	thickness and magnetic properties. A 2MB drive cannot
	completely saturate the mag coating on a 1MB diskette.
	"A DD floppy should never be substituded for a HD".

	Given that real HD floppies barely conform to ANSI standards
	why risk your data?

	Gerard