Re:How did MS-DOS decide on two seconds to keep the floppy d...
by aidenn0 on Tuesday September 24, 2019 @05:54PM
(#21065029)
I can do a 3.5" in less than 2s, but I assume they were testing with 5.25"
Those usually had a lever rather than a button so it was a 4 step process rather than a 3 step process:
3.5":
- Press button
- Remove Disk
- Insert Disk
5.25"
- Turn lever
- Remove Disk
- Insert Disk
- Turn lever
Add to this the fact that 5.25" floppies were less rigid, and expensive enough that you don't want to damage, and it takes a lot longer.
That being said, I think I did get down to just barely under 2s when I was restoring my hard disk from 97 5.25" floppies after getting a virus (the backup program being used bypassed DOS's system calls for accessing the disk, and polled multiple times per second so you didn't even need to press a key after inserting the disk).
Those usually had a lever rather than a button so it was a 4 step process rather than a 3 step process:
3.5":
- Press button
- Remove Disk
- Insert Disk
5.25"
- Turn lever
- Remove Disk
- Insert Disk
- Turn lever
Add to this the fact that 5.25" floppies were less rigid, and expensive enough that you don't want to damage, and it takes a lot longer.
That being said, I think I did get down to just barely under 2s when I was restoring my hard disk from 97 5.25" floppies after getting a virus (the backup program being used bypassed DOS's system calls for accessing the disk, and polled multiple times per second so you didn't even need to press a key after inserting the disk).