On Wed, May 03, 2006 at 12:34:59PM -0500, Mike McCarty wrote: > Andrew Sackville-West wrote: > >On Wed, May 03, 2006 at 11:29:31AM -0500, Mike McCarty wrote: > > > >>Andrew Sackville-West wrote: > >> > >>>On Wed, May 03, 2006 at 10:24:00AM -0500, Mike McCarty wrote: > >>> > > [snip] > > >>No, a sector copy is not a bit-for-bit copy, as sectors do not have > >>to be arranged sequentially on the track. In fact, sectors used > >>normally to be written with interleave to speed up access. I haven't > >>looked into it lately, so I dunno whether sectors are now commonly > >>written with interleave of 3 as used to be, or are now sequential. > > > > > >yup. I only mean that Im interpreting the statements in the install > >guide as indicating that the entire disk image, boot record and all is > > Ok. But it is important sometimes to make these distinctions. > A sector-by-sector copy is not a bit-for-bit copy, as floppies > do not store bits. There are inter-sector gaps, for example.
fair enough. > > >being copied. I might have some truly blank floppies around... I'll > >play with them and see what happens. > > Be sure that one of your discs is a 720K disc, and has been degaussed. > BTW, if it Just Works on high-mu discs, even when never formatted, > then I suspect that it will ruin your 720K disc. So make sure it's > one you don't mind losing. Agreed. though, as long as the magnetic media is intact, would not a low-level format "Rescue" a disc? not the data, but the usability of the disc. > I know I've got some 720K discs around > somewhere, one of which I could sacrifice... I don't have any of those :(. Further inspection also reveals that my floppies were formatted at the factory (says right on 'em, heh). And, after all these years of being careful with floppies, I can attest that its not so easy as you'd think to degauss a floppy. Things I've tried so far: big magnet on a 15" speaker microwave (he he) ac motor on my drill press various fridge magnets wiped over the surface holding on my monitor while degaussing the monitor sheesh. somewhere around here I have a degausser for cassette tape heads... maybe that'll work if I can find it. A
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