XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11, comp.os.linux.advocacy, comp.sys.mac.advocacy   
   From: daniel47@nomail.afraid.org   
      
   On 19/11/2025 1:25 am, -hh wrote:   
   > On 11/18/25 08:22, J. P. Gilliver wrote:   
   >> On 2025/11/18 11:32:6, Daniel70 wrote:   
   >>> ...   
   >>>   
   >>> So like 'they' did with 5.25 inch Floppies, 3.5 inch Floppies,   
   >>> CDs and, I think, DVDs.   
   >>   
   >> Well, I never came across a floppy drive where you had to turn over   
   >> the floppy - in fact most (certainly for the 3½") had mechanisms to   
   >> prevent you doing so. They _did_ have two heads....   
   >   
   > The slang term was pulling "flippies".  It was a thing way back in   
   > the days of 5.25" drives which also only had heads on one side, and   
   > $20 for a box of ten floppies made it an expensive hobby.   
   >   
   > Those early 5.25" disks came with only one precut notch, which was   
   > used for write-protecting a disk (you would tape over the notch), so   
   > a user wanting to pull a "flippy" would have to manually cut a second   
   > notch for the other side, to align with the (reed?) switch in the   
   > drive.  They could then format the disk & use it normally.   
   >   
   > If one didn't manually cut this notch, the hardware would assume that   
   >  the flipped-over disk had its notch taped-over, and thus   
   > write-protect it.  That prevented fall writing to it, including   
   > formatting.   
   >   
   > FWIW, there were 'nibbler' tools sold that would make this manual   
   > notch cutting easy, but a lot of hobbyists would just DIY it   
   > themselves with whatever cutter they had.   
      
   Like one end of a two-hole punch!   
      
   > The risk was cutting too deep and hitting the disk material, ruining   
   > the floppy, so a common practice would be to cut the notch for a   
   > flippie before formatting/using either side of the disk.   
   >   
   >   
   > -hh   
   --   
   Daniel70   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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