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How disks store data – Kreisen 3 8 6 X / X E User Manual

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Care for your diskettes and diskette drives

Insert and remove diskettes

Write-protect diskettes

Make backup copies of your diskettes

Use a single diskette drive

Use a hard disk drive

How Disks Store Data

The diskette you insert in your computer’s diskette drive is

made of flexible plastic, coated with magnetic material. It is
enclosed in a square jacket. Your computer stores data on the
diskette by recording on the magnetic surface.

Unlike a diskette, a hard disk is rigid and fixed in place. It is

sealed in a protective case to keep it free from dust and dirt. A

hard disk stores data the same way that a diskette does, but it
works faster and has much larger storage capacity.

All disks are divided into data storage compartments by sides,
tracks, and sectors. Double-sided diskettes — like the ones you
use in your computer — store data on both sides. On your disk

there are concentric rings, called tracks, in which a disk can
store data. Double-density diskettes (such as 360KB diskettes)
have 40 tracks, and highdensity diskettes (such as 1.2MB or

1.44MB diskettes) have 80 tracks. But 720KB double density

diskette has 80 tracks.

A hard disk consists of two or more magnetically-coated
platters stacked on top of one another, so it has four or more

sides with many more tracks than a diskette.

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Using Your Computer