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IBM-AUSTRIA - PC-HW-Support 30 Aug 1999 |
5.25 Inch 360kb diskettes fail
PROBLEM - The use of low density 360KB 5.25" diskettes may fail with "sector not
found" errors in a PS/Valuepoint 6381/si.
The low density 360KB 5.25" diskette was previously formatted to 720KB. Once the newly
formatted 720KB diskette is used, errors may occur if the diskette is then re-formatted
back to 360KB.
The errors occur as a result of the formatting process. The 720KB formatting process
single steps the floppy drive heads, formatting a total of 80 tracks. The 360KB formatting
process double steps the drive heads, formatting a total of 40 tracks. The 360KB formatting
process essentially writes only on the even tracks of a 720KB format. Therefore, the
information put on the odd tracks of a 720KB format will still be there even after the media
has been reformatted to 360KB.
Machines AFFECTED - All Valuepoint models 6381 Si
SOLUTION - To reuse low density 360KB 5.25" media that has been formatted to 720KB
capacity, the diskette must be bulk erased (using a device that produces strong alternating
magnetic fields typically called bulk eraser or video/audio tape eraser) before it can be
reformatted to 360KB density again.
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