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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!ihnp4!iwu1c!jgpo
From: jgpo@iwu1c.UUCP (John, KA9MNK)
Newsgroups: net.micro.apple
Subject: Care and feeding of Apple Disk ][s
Message-ID: <191@iwu1c.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 13-Jan-84 10:14:41 EST
Article-I.D.: iwu1c.191
Posted: Fri Jan 13 10:14:41 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 14-Jan-84 03:31:11 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 33

{text saver}

I have an application for my Apple //e with two standard Apple ][ disks
which requires that I leave power on for days at a time.  The disks are
used only for booting.  My biggest worry is a power failure.  If I take
the disk out of drive 1, the disk motor will spin forever when power
comes back on.  If I leave the boot disk in the drive, the machine will
reboot itself when power comes back on, thus saving the motor, but I worry
about leaving the R/W head loaded against the disk for long periods of time.
Is this a valid concern?

I'd be willing to ruin a diskette to save the drive motor, but I don't
want to ruin the head.  (Sort of like robbing Peter to pay Paul).

Anybody out there have any good/bad/indifferent experiences with leaving
floppies in the drive for days/weeks at a time?


	Thanks,
	John Opalko
	AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
	...!ihnp4!iwu1c!jgpo


PS:
I'd *love* to buy a RAM disk emulator with battery backup, or (drool) a
20 meg Winnie with auto-retract, but I have all my $$$ allocated for
luxuries like food, clothing, etc.  :-)