720k floppy

From: Chris <mythtech_at_Mac.com>
Date: Wed Dec 26 14:39:17 2001

>Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you simply cover the hole
>(with tape) on a 1.44mb floppy to make a 720 mb diskette?
>Obvisously the hole is the one that isn't the write protect
>one (i.e. doesn't have the slide tab).

I can tell you, ignoring all the "technical" issues, based purely on
experience... this is a BAD idea. It will work... for a while, but you
are almost guarenteed that the disk will fail eventually. I don't have
ANY that have worked long term... and I still do this trick from time to
time when I need a 720k disk briefly... it is always easier for me to
just convert a 1.44 then it is for me to dig out a 720k.

They usually work long enough for me to copy a file to and from the
disk... but within a few reads and writes, it will die. Reformatting will
refresh it for a few more reads and writes... but again, it will die
shortly.

So if your data is important, DON'T do this.

There are companies that still sell DD disks brand new, I would just hunt
one down, and buy a bunch.

-c
Received on Wed Dec 26 2001 - 14:39:17 GMT