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Types of diskette drives – Epson EQUITY 386SX/16 PLUS User Manual

Page 60

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Your computer uses the read/write heads in a disk drive to

store and retrieve data on a disk. To write to a disk, the
computer spins it in the drive to position the disk so that the

area where the data is to be written is under the read/write

head. A diskette has an exposed area where the read/write

head can access it.

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

The following list describes the four types of diskette drives

you can use in your computer and which diskettes to use
with them:

1.44MB drive-Use

double-sided, high-density,

135 TPI, 1.44MB diskettes. These diskettes contain 80

tracks per side, 18 sectors per track, and hold up to

1.44MB of information, which is approximately 600

pages of text.

1.2MB drive-Use

double-sided, high-density,

96 TPI (tracks per inch), 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.

Note

MB stands for megabyte, which equals 1024KB (or

1,048,576 bytes). KB stands for kilobyte, which equals

1024 bytes. Each byte represents a single character,

such as A, $, or 3.

720KB drive-Use

double-sided, double-density,

135 TPI, 720KB diskettes. These diskettes contain 80

tracks per side, 9 sectors per track, and hold up to 720KB

of information, which is approximately 300 pages of text.

3-8

Using

Your Computer