MFM floppy disk write precompensation

On 08/11/2013 10:21 AM, Al Kossow wrote: Generally, that's what I do when testing a precomp algorithm. Just look at the histogram and see where the peaks cluster. Compare with an outer track. I know all of this stuff about writing floppies is educational, but what's the point? I suspect that decent blank media will be getting hard to come by in the next couple of decades. I was mildly surprised to find that a stock of several hundred blank "360K" 5.25" floppies are now beginning to show errors in formatting. And don't get me started on the execrable quality of 3.5" HD media. I spent a day treating a batch of "Radio Shack" branded 8" floppies from about 30 years ago before grabbing the data off of them (oxide shedding like you wouldn't believe). After treating, you can usually get one or two good reads. I don't know who supplied Tandy with their media, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was Wabash. --Chuck