16 Apr
1997
16 Apr
'97
3:51 p.m.
I have a box (about 250-300) of hard-sector
5=BC"
disks. Anyone interested??? Sell/trade/???
What are "hard-sector" disks? Not the same as a 5.25 floppy?
mhop(a)snip.net
16 Apr
16 Apr
4:57 p.m.
New subject: Hard-sector disks
On Wed, 16 Apr 1997 20:51:45 -0400, you wrote:
Soft-sector (common IBM-compatible) disks have only one hole.
(Called the index hole?) Hard-sector disks have multiple holes
which define where the sectors will be. The disks I have, close to 350
of them actually, are 16-sector disks which have a total of 17 holes.
Not at all suitable for IBM-compatible usage but I understand
Commodore 64 and possibly other systems ignore the holes.
Somebody must have a use for these, they are bulk-packed in packs of
50 each. I bought them at auction, thinking I had a good deal but not
thinking enough. I would prefer that someone with a system which
requires 16-sector disks get them.
_______________
Barry Peterson bm_pete(a)ix.netcom.com
Husband to Diane, Father to Doug,
Grandfather to Zoe now and to Tegan at 10:23 a.m. on April 13th!!!
(7lbs. 2oz., 19", lots of dark hair, and HEALTHY!)
I have a box
(about 250-300) of hard-sector 5.25"
disks. Anyone interested??? Sell/trade/???
What are "hard-sector" disks? Not the same as a 5.25 floppy?
mhop(a)snip.net
17 Apr
17 Apr
4:32 a.m.
New subject: Hard-sector disks
On Thu, 17 Apr 1997, Barry Peterson wrote:
Soft-sector (common IBM-compatible) disks have only
one hole.
(Called the index hole?) Hard-sector disks have multiple holes
which define where the sectors will be. The disks I have, close to 350
of them actually, are 16-sector disks which have a total of 17 holes.
Not at all suitable for IBM-compatible usage but I understand
Commodore 64 and possibly other systems ignore the holes.
The systems best known for ignoring ALL holes in floppies are the
original Apples and their descendants. Woz apparently couldn't afford
a real controller, so he did it all in software. The Apples read the
whole track and determine what's on it from memory. Naturally this
made the Apple disk subsystem the slowest thing possible until the
geniuses at Commodore outdid them by using a serial disk interface.
(And people complained about the TRS-80 cassette system -- well, it's
the only one that had a cassette system reliable enough to put off
upgrading to disk, so people had _time_ to complain.)
--
Ward Griffiths
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails
of the last priest." [Denis Diderot, "Dithyrambe sur la fete de rois"]
16 Apr
16 Apr
5:21 p.m.
mhop wrote:
You can always tell the youngsters......
Hard/soft sectoring -
In the olden days of magnetic floppy media, there was a sector hole
FOR EVERY SECTOR located around the hub of the floppy. Now adays,
there is only one, and the computer keeps track of where it's at
(sector wise) by watching the data (i.e. soft sectoring).
If you rotate a regular 5.25 floppy in the sleeve now, you will only
count 1 hole. I can't remember how many sectors per track were on
the hard sector floppies (12 jumps to mind) but you would find that
many holes per revolution. Goes back to that track/cylinder concept.
God I love reading this list!
--
| Allen Underdown - wbrco(a)valuenet.net |
| Amateur Radio Operator - N0GOM, computer geek, |
| homebrewer and outdoor enthusiast! |
| Try My BBS at 314.939.9445! |
I have a box (about 250-300) of hard-sector
5=BC"
disks. Anyone interested??? Sell/trade/???
What are "hard-sector" disks? Not the same as a 5.25 floppy?
mhop(a)snip.net 
5:45 p.m.
New subject: Hard-Sectored 5.25" floppies
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text
Size: 773 bytes
Desc: not available
Url :
http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/attachments/19970416/714233e9/at…
9991
days inactive
9992
days old
4 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
bm_pete＠ix.netcom.com -
gram＠cnct.com -
mhop＠snip.net -
shoppa＠alph02.triumf.ca -
wbrco＠valuenet.net