--- Jack [email protected] wrote:
First off, writing more than 1.44 MB on a floppy generally shortens the useful life of the floppy, and doesn't always work. There is no garauntee that the diskette will be able to safely store at any density greater than 1.44. I certainly wouldn't recommend it for a mission critical server. That is not to say that lots of people have made these diskettes. I've done it myself and never had any problems, but never on anything that was mission-critical or irreplaceable.
I do feel the need to mention that back when Microsoft released software on high-density 3-1/2" floppy disks, they released their software on floppy disks formatted to 1.680MB (their term for these disks was "DMF" disks). Apparently Microsoft felt that a DMF disk was more than adequate for "irreplaceable" software, especially given that they did not include any tools in Windows to create backup 1.680MB disks for their software (probably to curb software piracy).
I remember installing Windows95 and (pre-SE) Windows98 from these same 1.680MB floppies.
From the article:
http://www.trevormarshall.com/byte_articles/byte19.htm
"Are 1680K Floppies Reliable?"
"In a word, yes. They use the same data-rate and bit spacing as the 1440K format and are equally reliable, except if you happen to hit a drive that is not spinning at the correct speed. I found all the 486 and Pentium machines in my workshop were fine and I only had problems with one old 386 vintage computer. After all, would Microsoft use these disks to distribute its own software if they were unreliable?"
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