[TriLUG] Google Fiber Triangle Build out

[David Burton via TriLUG]

On Fri, Aug 26, 2016 at 2:53 PM, Matt Flyer via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org>
wrote:

>
> I remember when they came out with 1 Megabyte 5-1/4" FLOPPY disks.  I
> couldn't believe the storage capacity and was quick to get one.  I soon
> discovered that the things had a real tendency to develop errors and
> become unusable.
>

1.2 MB.

The trick with those, to make them reliable, was to format them and write
them *always* on the *same* drive, and write-protect them when putting them
in any *other* drives.

The head positioning on those diskette drives was by open-loop
dead-reckoning, using a stepper motor. So no two drives wrote in exactly
the same places for "track 1."

Unfortunately, DOS/Windows likes to update the "last accessed" date by
quietly *writing* to the directories when *reading* files. That means if
you move a diskette between several different computers, even just to read
from it, you are apt to quickly get misaligned hash where the directories
are supposed to be, unless you first affix the write-protect tab over the
notch (or open the write-protect hole on a 3.5" diskette).

BTW, if you need to recover data from a balky 3.5" diskette, use one of
those 120 MB Superdisk drives. They are much, much better at scraping data
from marginal diskettes.

Unfortunately, AFAIK, there's nothing like that which can read balky 5.25"
or 8" diskettes. (I'd love to be wrong.)

Dave