Cheap 1.44mb Disk! For those of you out there that like me are tired of paying OUTRAGEOUS prices for 1.44meg floppies here are two ways to get around the problem. But first a little insight as to what the actual difference is between the two disk types. The reason a 720K disk will not format out to 1.4mb is that there is a second window on the high density disk. This window is picked up by a switch in the drive to determine the type of disk. If the window is not present the drive sends a fault to the controller and you get a message of invalid media. The people making the disks would like you to believe that the high density disk are totally different then the 720K disks. In reality they are all made in the same factories under the same conditions and with the same materials. The only difference is that the HD disks are guaranteed to format out to 1.44mb while the DSDD disk are not. I really don't think that this guarantee is worth 4 to 5 times the price in disks! The first and most obvious way to get around the problem is to simply put a hole in the disk case at the proper location. This works well and with care is very acceptable. I prefer to use a 5/32" drill bit in a chuck that can be used by hand. This eliminates the possibility of getting dust on the inside of the case as you will get only one long chip if your bit is sharp. The hole must be place exactly opposite of the one for the write protect window. For the average person this is the best way. For those of you that are more confident in your abilities read on! The second and by far the better way to solve this problem is to modify the drive so as to bypass the media detect switch all together. This requires the removal of the drive from the computer. Hold the drive upside down with the disk slot facing out. You will see the switch for the write protection on the left side just in back of the disk slot. Directly opposite this switch on the right side you will find a switch with two solder connections on it. This is the media detect switch. Simply install a jumper across the two pads and you can now use cheap disk for high density storage! NOTE..IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS ABOUT HAVING THE RIGHT SWITCH USE A HOLE IN THE DISK INSTEAD OF THIS MOD AS A MISTAKE COULD CAUSE IRREPARABLE DAMAGE TO YOUR DRIVE! A hole in the disk is less of a headache than having to buy a new drive! For those skeptics or purists who doubt that this truly works you should know that out of over 400 disks formatted in this matter I have a failure rate of less then .5%. I do however use a good quality of disk (BULK 3 1/2" DSDD from the MICRO CENTER). I for one do not like holes in the disk and have the other mod. However whichever one you choose, just think of all the money you can save by just a little time! REMEMBER TO MARK YOUR DISKS IF YOU DON'T HAVE A HOLE IN THEM OR YOU WILL END UP WITH FAILURES TRYING TO WRITE TO A WRONG FORMAT!