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From: jbn@wdl1.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: Erasing Disks
Message-ID: <336@wdl1.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 18-Mar-85 18:12:19 EST
Article-I.D.: wdl1.336
Posted: Mon Mar 18 18:12:19 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 22-Mar-85 02:16:59 EST
Sender: notes@wdl1.UUCP
Organization: Ford Aerospace, Western Development Laboratories
Lines: 14
Nf-ID: #R:sdcc6:-196000:wdl1:1400035:000:715
Nf-From: wdl1!jbn    Mar 18 13:32:00 1985


      One situation in which bulk erasing helps is when reusing disks written
on a drive with a different track width.  PC/XT <=> PC/AT reuse sometimes
benefits from bulk erasing.  In particular, if you want to write a disk on
an AT and read it later on an XT, it should be bulk erased and formatted at
low density on the AT before reading it on an XT.  The AT writes narrower
tracks (being a higher density drive) and won't erase the entire wide track
as it overwrites, leaving some residue that gives the XT trouble unless you
bulk erase or use new disks.
      However, the business about ``extending your disk life by periodically 
reorienting the magnetic particles'' sounds like total bunk. 

					John Nagle