Path: utzoo!lsuc!ncrcan!ontenv!soley
From: soley@ontenv.UUCP (Norman S. Soley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Do 1.44Mb 3.5" drives reliably read/write 720K floppies?
Keywords: 3.5", disk formats, interchangeable
Message-ID: <412@ontenv.UUCP>
Date: 17 Mar 88 15:35:05 GMT
References: <746@esunix.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Toronto
Lines: 26

In article <746@esunix.UUCP>, angerhof@esunix.UUCP (Norman Angerhofer) writes:
> I would like to put a 3.5" floppy drive into an AT-clone (which will hopefully
> have the BIOS to support this kind of drive.)  The 1.44 Mb drives are only
> slightly more expensive than the 720K drives.  But the floppies for them
> are more than twice as expensive!
> 
> So, I am thinking, I'll get a 1.44 Mb drive and use the 720K floppies until
> floppy prices go down enough to be able to afford the 1.44Mb floppies.
> 
> My question:  do the 1.44MB 3.5" drives also RELIABLY read and write the
> 720k format?

I can't claim direct experience but in theory it should be no problem.
The 1.2 MEG 5.25" disks had an increased number of tracks and
therefore a thinner read/write head. These heads wrote 360K disks by
laying a thin track down the middle of the wider track. 360K drives
could not reliably read the thinner track.

The new 1.44 format uses the same track width as 720K disks and
therefore this is not a problem. They just pack more sectors on per
track. 
-- 
Norman Soley - Data Communications Analyst - Ontario Ministry of the Environment
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