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Btw, this requires an explanation of how data is stored on floppy disks. https://twitter.com/cyberat2600/status/1309897759248580615
When I say "floppy", many people think of 3.5 micro disks or microfloppy disks. The blue Sony is a double sided double density, 800KB max capacity. Black BASF is high density, 1.44MB. There were 3.5 single sided disks and drives (original Mac). But double sided is typical.
But the word "floppy" gets its full meaning in the previous diskettes. The original 8" and the smaller 5.25".
Originally, all drives and media were single sided. But, as both sides were coated, some companies took advantage of that. Note on this commercial disk, no write notch
Originally, all drives and media were single sided. But, as both sides were coated, some companies took advantage of that. Note on this commercial disk, no write notch
By comparison, a retail blank floppy disk had a notch on the top right side, so that writes were enabled.
this 3M is double sided, but only a notch on the right. That's because DS drives wrote with 2 heads. But on the apple II, drives were single sided. How to use the back side?
this 3M is double sided, but only a notch on the right. That's because DS drives wrote with 2 heads. But on the apple II, drives were single sided. How to use the back side?
If you just flipped the diskette and insert it front side down, you could read it, but not write it.
So what to do? You could add a manual override switch to your disk drive (requires some skills), or you could use a paper punch...
See the difference between the notches?
So what to do? You could add a manual override switch to your disk drive (requires some skills), or you could use a paper punch...
See the difference between the notches?
Since single sided disks were cheaper than double sided disks, this became an extremely popular practice. So much so that companies started selling punches to make the square notch.
The back was not certified for data, but it almost always worked, especially on brand names
The back was not certified for data, but it almost always worked, especially on brand names
Once write enabled that way, you can make the disk read only once more by using a write protect tab. Usually you got one per floppy, So in a box of 10, you would get a sheet of 10 labels and 10 write protect tabs.
In conclusion, not all commercial software used write protected disks. Many did not so as to customize your disk (what is your name?) or saving data. But for many games, like the one which originated this thread, they used commercial high speed duplication services (or 6 drives!)
