Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!tekcrl!tekgvs!keithe
From: keithe@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Keith Ericson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Formatting 1.2 Meg disks to 360K question
Keywords: floppy formatting
Message-ID: <6641@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM>
Date: 10 Jan 90 19:17:44 GMT
References: <3226@ucrmath.UCR.EDU> <7715@nigel.udel.EDU> <1700@rodan.acs.syr.edu>
Reply-To: keithe@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Keith Ericson)
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton,  OR.
Lines: 34

In article <1700@rodan.acs.syr.edu> amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Michielsen) writes:
>>In article <3226@ucrmath.UCR.EDU> lulu@ucrmath.UUCP (david lu) writes:
>>=>I just tried to format some 1.2 Meg, high density disks in my
>>=>360K drive (as 360K), and I got the following error message:
>>=>	Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable
>
>If you hold a real 1.2 MB disk up to the light and look at it at about a 30
>or 45 degree angle, you should be able to see a ring. In the read/write window
>at the outside edge of the floppy disk media. It's about .1 inch wide or so.
>That 'window' is what causes dos to reject the disk for formatting.  If it
>weren't there it would be possible for 360K drive to corupt the disk with an
>attempted format.  In some 1.2 drives it also is used to select the drive
>density initially.  When I have a disk I'm not sure of I just look for that
>edge window & know instantly that it is a 1.2 MB disk.
>
>al

HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA,
HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA,
HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA,
HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA,
HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA,

Thank you - I haven't had such a good laugh in a _looooooong_ time.

(excuse any typo's - I'm having a difficult time seeing through the tears
from the laughter!)

But, "al," you should remember to attach the 'smileys' to these kinds of
postings: there are _some_ folks who might think you're serious!

Thanks again for the humor break!

kEITHe