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GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
theoldfool9-Mar-19 8:49
professionaltheoldfool9-Mar-19 8:49 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
kalberts10-Mar-19 23:29
kalberts10-Mar-19 23:29 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
RickZeeland9-Mar-19 9:20
mveRickZeeland9-Mar-19 9:20 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
Eddy Vluggen9-Mar-19 9:26
professionalEddy Vluggen9-Mar-19 9:26 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
Southmountain9-Mar-19 10:00
Southmountain9-Mar-19 10:00 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
kalberts10-Mar-19 23:33
kalberts10-Mar-19 23:33 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
PIEBALDconsult9-Mar-19 13:22
mvePIEBALDconsult9-Mar-19 13:22 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
kalberts10-Mar-19 23:51
kalberts10-Mar-19 23:51 
Maybe because you back in the old days formatted all the floppies yourself. Then a proper format code was written to the disk.

In the (very) old days, floppies were totally unformatted when you bought them, you had to format them yourself. When you bought yourself a new 10-pack and wanted to prepare them all for use, you'd spend a significant fraction of the afternoon waiting for the job to complete. (And remember: In the DOS days, you couldn't use your PC for anything else while waiting.)

As a service to the customers, the makers of floppy disks started selling "pre-formatted" floppies. Unfortunately, some of the largest brands failed to write a proper format code. I don't know if there might have been any logical reason not to, but that's how it was. At several occasions, I was offered batches of unused, but obsoleted software floppies: When a new software version came out, it was cheapier to ditch or give away the old version, than it would be replacing the labels and rewriting the disks. These mass produced floppies was similar, in that they lacked the format code.

My guess is that floppy writing "robots" for making ten thousand identical copies (whether blank or filled with software) per batch was such a small market that there only was one, maybe a couple, models in the market. If these machines were fed the files only, and did't themselves write the format code, it could explain why such a large fraction of pre-formatted / pre-written floppies had this defect.
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
Is_VYFHD_in_use11-Mar-19 4:33
Is_VYFHD_in_use11-Mar-19 4:33 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
Tim Deveaux9-Mar-19 15:10
Tim Deveaux9-Mar-19 15:10 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
dandy7210-Mar-19 7:08
dandy7210-Mar-19 7:08 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
kalberts11-Mar-19 0:05
kalberts11-Mar-19 0:05 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
dandy7211-Mar-19 4:39
dandy7211-Mar-19 4:39 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
W Balboos, GHB10-Mar-19 9:04
W Balboos, GHB10-Mar-19 9:04 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
clemenslinders11-Mar-19 3:20
clemenslinders11-Mar-19 3:20 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
PeteTheDiver11-Mar-19 4:58
PeteTheDiver11-Mar-19 4:58 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
Member 1228909911-Mar-19 4:58
Member 1228909911-Mar-19 4:58 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
Is_VYFHD_in_use11-Mar-19 4:52
Is_VYFHD_in_use11-Mar-19 4:52 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
kalberts11-Mar-19 7:17
kalberts11-Mar-19 7:17 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
Is_VYFHD_in_use11-Mar-19 7:35
Is_VYFHD_in_use11-Mar-19 7:35 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
Member 1417840711-Mar-19 5:16
Member 1417840711-Mar-19 5:16 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
kalberts11-Mar-19 5:48
kalberts11-Mar-19 5:48 
GeneralRe: Old floppies Pin
dwieneke18-Mar-19 6:13
dwieneke18-Mar-19 6:13 
GeneralUseless IoT item of the weekend - but ... Pin
OriginalGriff9-Mar-19 5:48
mveOriginalGriff9-Mar-19 5:48 
GeneralRe: Useless IoT item of the weekend - but ... Pin
Mike Hankey9-Mar-19 6:07
mveMike Hankey9-Mar-19 6:07 

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