User's Manual

Choosing Diskettes for the Equity III

When you buy diskettes, be sure to choose high-quality diskettes

with reinforced hub rings. The added reliability is well worth the extra

cost. You also need to make sure you buy the proper format type for the

drive(s) in your system.

The top floppy disk drive on the Equity III has a capacity of 1.2MB

(megabytes) and uses

%&inch,

high-density, soft-sectored, 96 TPI

(tracks per inch) diskettes. Each high-density diskette can hold 1.2MB of

data, or about 450 pages of text. (One megabyte equals 1,048,576 bytes.)

These diskettes are compatible with those the IBM PC AT uses, so you

can use diskettes prepared by one computer on the other.

If you have a second 1.2MB floppy disk drive, use the same high-

density diskettes described above.

If you have a second floppy disk drive that has a capacity of 360KB

(kilobytes), use

W&inch,

double-sided, double-density, soft-sectored, 48

TPI diskettes in this drive. Each double-density diskette can hold 360KB

of data, the equivalent of about 150 pages of text. (One kilobyte equals

1024

bytes.) These diskettes are compatible with those the IBM PC uses,

so you can use diskettes prepared by one computer on the other.

You need to format new diskettes before you can use them with an

operating system. Formatting erases all the data on a diskette and pre-

pares it to receive new data, so be sure to format only new blank disk-

ettes or diskettes that contain data you want to erase. Refer to your

MS-DOS (or other operating system) manual for instructions on how to

format diskettes.

Drive and diskette incompatibilities

You need to be aware of some incompatibilities between the 1.2MB

and 360KB drives and the diskettes they use. These incompatibilities

apply to diskettes from other compatible computers as well.

Although you cannot use highdensity diskettes in a 360KB drive,

you can use double-density diskettes in a 1.2MB drive under the circum-

stances described below.

You can use a double-density diskette in a 1.2MB drive if you format

it as a 360KB (or 320KB) diskette in the 1.2MB drive first. (Your

MS-DOS or other operating system manual explains how to format a

diskette in the density you choose.) After you do this, you can read it in