robs@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Rob Schaeffer) (02/20/91)
Someone where I work bought a load of high density disks. But they have
some high density drives and some low density drives. They formatted the
disks on a low density machine. These disks can be read on low density
machines, but NOT on high density. Is there anyway to fix this? These
disks will get a lot of use, so tape over the hole is out.
Any ideas?
Rob
--
robs@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
"My God, [static] it's full of [static] toasters..."
-- 2001, A Hardware Odysseydagraham@vax1.tcd.ie (02/22/91)
In article <1991Feb20.151150.17854@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>, robs@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Rob Schaeffer) writes: > Someone where I work bought a load of high density disks. But they have > some high density drives and some low density drives. They formatted the > disks on a low density machine. These disks can be read on low density > machines, but NOT on high density. Is there anyway to fix this? These > disks will get a lot of use, so tape over the hole is out. > > Any ideas? Yes. First of all, low density drives use a much higher 'write' current than high density ones, so a HD disc formatted low density may not be reformattable again as HD because the weaker HD current may not be able to overwrite the stronger low density signal, although I have been able to reuse discs formatted in this way (and even format low density discs as high density, with a hole drilled in the disc, but this is obviously not so reliable!) Obviously if you can't reformat the discs high density, you could either- 1. Try a *big* magnet :-) 2. Fill up the hole somehow. Actually, 5.25" write protect metally labels work quite well and stick well too. Or you could fill up the hole with goo- try melted plastic or something. :-) David Graham, JF Comp Sci, Trinity College, Dublin dagraham@vax1.tcd.ie #! r