At 2:06 PM -0700 6/9/98, Simon Raahauge DeSantis wrote:
>On Tue, 9 Jun 1998, Dr. Bill Studenmund wrote:
>> Are you sure you tried with an 800K floppy? HD (1.44 MB) floppies are
>> keyed to be different, and the Mac can tell the difference between the
>> two. It will only give you choices appropriate for the floppy you've
>> inserted. It does this as the recording standard's a bit different between
>> 1.44 and 800K floppies; the write current's lower for 1.44. If 800K-format
>> data ever gets written on a 1.44 MB floppy, the latter should be bulk
>> erased before using as a 1.44 MB floppy or else you might get data errors
>> (it was explained to me that the 1.44 MB erase head might not fully erase
>> 800 K data).
>
>Aha, that must've been it. I don't think I have any 800K floppies lying
>around. Is it possible to format a 1.44 as an 800K? I seem to remember
>doing something along those lines a few years ago to work with some older
>macs at school...

Yes, that should work just fine.  You will have to put some tape over the
hole that isn't the write-protect hole, and don't ever take the tape back
off (for the reasons DBS just gave).

My 7500 running 8.1 will do 800K, but I do remember hearing something about
Apple dropping 800K support somewhere.  The 800K format is on its way out,
but then the iMAC doesn't even have a floppy.

Signature failed Preliminary Design Review.
Feasibility of a new signature is currently being evaluated.
h.b.hotz@jpl.nasa.gov, or hbhotz@oxy.edu