[net.micro.mac] Single-sided microflops as Double-sided.

ksc@uclachem.UUCP (Kim Cary) (03/25/86)

Ive heard many conflicting reports concerning the advisability of using
single-sided 3.5" disks to format as double-sided.  Can anyone confirm
or deny these statements?

1)  Go ahead.  The Mac reads the top side of the disk and the HP Touchscreen
	reads the bottom side.  So that tells you they're all really double
	sided.
		{I doubt this assertion more everyday, but how 'bout it
		 HP folks?}

2)  Don't even try to format an SS as DS.  The flip side is often unpolished
	and will trash your disk reader heads.
		{Isn't the second head always in contact with the
		 disk anyway, even though the machine knows its
		 a single-side disk that is inserted?}

		Thanks in advance,
			Kim Cary
			...!ucbvax!ucla-cs!uclachem!ksc

faunt@spar.UUCP (Doug Faunt) (03/27/86)

HP reccomends reading their single-sided diskettes as seldom as
possible in a double-sided drive, since the "other" side will leave
residue on the "other" head.  HP single-sided diskettes work just
fine in a Mac.

	...!ihnp4!{hplabs|decwrl}!spar!faunt    faunt@sri-kl.ARPA

henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (03/27/86)

> Ive heard many conflicting reports concerning the advisability of using
> single-sided 3.5" disks to format as double-sided...

This has come up elsewhere on the net in the context of 5-inch floppies.
Unless there are special considerations for the 3.5 jobs, the answer is:
it's not guaranteed to work.  It is not uncommon to test both sides of
disks and to sell the ones with one bad side as single-sided.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry