30 Dec
2010
30 Dec
'10
7:09 p.m.
From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk
Hi
The disk steps to 80 tracks but has 160 tracks on
the media if double sided..
I think the confusion is that when stepping to a track,
it doesn't make any difference to the stepper which
side you start or end on. I'd guess that that is how
the concept of cylinders got mixed up. The media
and the action of the drive are two different things.
Dwight
I always considered track and cylinder to mean
the same
for single sided.
For doule sided=2C Thre would be two tracks per cylinder.
And I would agree with you...
However, I'll bet that if you ask a reasnablu 'techy' PC person 'how many
tracks are there on a 1.44M vfloppy disk' you will not get the answer
'160' (whcih is the technically correct answer).. Most will answer '80'.
I would probably say 'There are 80 cylinders, each of 2 tracks',
particularly if I suspected it was a trick question :-)
-tony