Your computer uses the read/write heads in a disk drive to store and retrieve data on a disk. There is one head above the diskette and one below, so the drive can write to both sides of the diskette. To write to a disk, the computer spins it in the drive to a position where one of the read/write heads can access the diskette through the read/write slot. The read/write slot on a diskette exposes the diskette’s magnetic surface so the read/write head can write on the appropriate area.

Because data is stored magnetically, you can retrieve it, record over it, and erase it-just as you play, record, and erase music on a cassette tape.

Types of Diskette Drives

Your computer has at least one 1.2MB diskette drive. With this drive, use 5¼-inch, double-sided, high-density, 96 TPI, 1.2MB diskettes. These diskettes contain 80 tracks per side, 15 sectors per track, and hold up to 1.2MB of information, which is approximately 500 pages of text. You can also format these diskettes for 360KB—see your MS-DOS Reference Manual for more information.

In addition, you may have a diskette drive of a different type. The following list describes the types of optional diskette drives you can use in your computer and which diskettes you should use with them:

360KB drive-With this drive, use 5¼-inch, double-sided, double-density, 48 TPI (tracks per inch), 360KB diskettes. (You can also use single-sided, 160KB or 180KB diskettes.) These diskettes contain 40 tracks per side, 8 or 9 sectors per track, and hold up to 360KB of information, which is approximately 150 pages of text, (With 8 sectors per track, a diskette holds up to 320KB.)