Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!glenn
From: glenn@cs.utexas.edu (Gwangwu Lai)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Are there "real" 1.44 disks?
Keywords: DS/DD, DS/HD, coercivity
Message-ID: <5@libyan.cs.utexas.edu>
Date: 13 Feb 90 22:50:13 GMT
Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 38


Be careful when you go shopping for cheap "1.44M" disks.  I saw an ad in
the _Computer Shoper_ from the following company

	(SALE OF THE CENTURY)
	ERM Inc./Electronic Liquidators
	37 Washington St. 4th Floor
	Melrose, MA 02176

In the ad it's claimed that "Unlike our competitors, sleeves and labels
always free."  Well, 1.44M disks don't come with sleeves, and I recently
found that it costs only $1.5 for a pack of 50 labels in assorted colors
(I got one white label for each disk I purchased).

In a fine print, it says "Disks may be bulk erased."  Well, all of my
100 disks are bulk erased, each with a key tronic mouse 1.0 label. 

I bought 100 DS/HD disks for 169 dollars, which included shipping and
handling.  The add said it's 159 dollars for a quantity of 100.  When
I called, the salesman told me it would cost approximately 200.  I said
that's not what the ad said.  He asked me what magazine I was looking
at and, after being told that it was _Computer Shopper_, said that their
price list was in the "back room." 

So what's the problem?  All 100 disks are unmistakably DS/DD disks with a 
hole punched in the upper left-hand corner by a machine and passed off as
"DS/HD" disks.!  I consider it a cheat to advertise such disks as "DS/HD"
disks (technically speaking, DS/DD disks got a lower coercivity than
DS/HD ones do).  (What do you think when you buy a "24Mhz" 386 machine,
only to find out that it actually runs at 16Mhz, and the "24Mhz" is the
"effective throughput" measured by a program, say Norton's Utilities?)
I don't know if I can bring this to court, but look out for this company
when you purchase your "DS/HD" disks (if you really want to use DS/DD
disks as DS/HD disks, buy the DS/DD disks at 59 cents a piece and get
a 30- or 40-buck punching machine yourself). 


Glenn