MGT SAM drive, User Manual

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SAM Coupe Disk Drive Manual 4
DISK DRIVES –
THE BASICS
"Life is too
short to stuff
a mushroom.
(Shirley Conran)
3.5" DISKS
Not so long ago, home computers didn't use
disk drives. The basic way to load in your
software was from cassette tape. This is
much slower than using a drive, but most
homes already had a cassette recorder.
Cassette loading made computers affordable.
But with computer memories - and therefore
computer programs - growing ever larger,
home users began to get irritated. Things
eventually reached the point where you could
brew more than one cup of tea while waiting
for software to load. That's why - for you
committed users - MGT has made it possible
to add either one or two disk drives to your
SAM Coupe.
Whether your software is on tape or disk,
the raw materials are the same. Information
stored in your computer's memory is
transferred to magnetic-coated tape or disk,
and can be placed back into the computer
memory (the RAM) whenever you're ready.
To find the file you want on tape you have
to start at the beginning and carry on until
the end, or until you reach what you're
looking for. But with a disk, you can move
the head (just like the stylus on a record
player) directly to the place you want.
There's no need for "fast forward" with a
disk.
You'll find the difference in speed
dramatic. SAM Coupe disk drives can store up
to 780K of data on a single disk, and you'll
be able to load even very large programs in
a few seconds. Say goodbye to the kettle!
Take a disk. No, not just any disk, but a
3.5" 135 tracks per inch (tpi) disk, because
these are the ones that you'll need for your
SAM Drives.
So why are they called disks when they're
square? Well, what you're looking at is the
plastic casing which protects the delicate
disk inside. You can see the disk if you
slide across the metal shutter at the top.
But don't do this if you're prone to
accidents: the actual disk is very sensitive
to finger-prints, dust, heat, liquids and
magnetic (or electrical) fields.