Radio Shack TRS-80 Trsdos & Disk Basic Reference Manual

Mini
Disk
Operation
A
blank
diskette
(either
brand-new
or
magnetically erased) contains
no
information.
TRSDOS has a
special
utility
program (called
FORMAT)
which
takes a
blank diskette
and
organizes it into
concentric
"tracks" and
subtracks
called
"sectors".
See Figure 6.
These
divisions are
like the
numbered
pages
in a book.
(FORMAT
also
places a
small
amount of
system
and
bookkeeping
information
onto
each
diskette.
For
more
information, see
Extended
Utilities,
FORMAT.)
TRACK
1,
SECTOR 8
DATA
256 BYTES
TRACK/SECTOR
ID FOR
TRACK
1,
SECTOR 8
TRACKS
1,2
35
DIRECTION
OF
ROTATION
Figure 6.
Track/sector organization on
a
formatted diskette.
Each diskette is
permanently
sealed inside
its jacket to
prevent
bending, creasing,
scratching
or contamination
of
the diskette
surface.
When
the
diskette
is loaded into
the drive,
a hub
assembly
grips the diskette;
when the
drive motor
is on, the
diskette
rotates inside
its jacket.
The
specially treated
jacket
lining cleans
the
diskette as
it rotates.
Notice that the
TRSDOS
diskette
comes with
a piece
of tape across
the top
(above the
label). This
tape covers
the
diskette's write
protect notch.
With the notch
covered,
the
diskette is
physically
protected
from being
written
to. (A
"write
operation" is any
alteration
of
the
data
stored on the
diskette.
In contrast,
a "read"
does
not alter the
information
—
merely
accesses it.)
2-6

Radio Shack TRS-80 Specifications

General

Brand	Radio Shack
Model	TRS-80
Category	Desktop
Language	English