Editing Floppy disk (section)

==={{anchor|5.25|5.25-inch floppy disk|5¼-inch floppy disk}}5¼-inch floppy disk===
{{multiple image
| total_width = 400
| image1      = 5.25 inch floppy disk, front and back.jpg
| caption1     = 5¼-inch floppies, front and back
| image2       = 5.25 in. floppy disk drive top.jpg
| caption2     = Uncovered 5¼‑inch disk mechanism with disk inserted
}}
The head gap of an 80‑track high-density (1.2&nbsp;MB in the [[Modified Frequency Modulation|MFM]] format) 5¼‑inch drive (a.k.a. '''Mini diskette''', '''Mini disk''', or [[Shugart Associates|Minifloppy]]) is smaller than that of a 40‑track double-density (360&nbsp;KB if double-sided) drive but can also format, read and write 40‑track disks provided the controller supports double stepping or has a switch to do so. 5¼-inch 80-track drives were also called '''hyper drives'''.<ref group="nb" name="NB_Hyperdrive"/> A blank 40‑track disk formatted and written on an 80‑track drive can be taken to its native drive without problems, and a disk formatted on a 40‑track drive can be used on an 80‑track drive. Disks written on a 40‑track drive and then updated on an 80 track drive become unreadable on any 40‑track drives due to track width incompatibility.{{fact|date=June 2024}}

Single-sided disks were coated on both sides, despite the availability of more expensive double sided disks. The reason usually given for the higher price was that double sided disks were certified error-free on both sides of the media. Double-sided disks could be used in some drives for single-sided disks, as long as an index signal was not needed. This was done one side at a time, by turning them over ([[flippy disk]]s); more expensive dual-head drives which could read both sides without turning over were later produced, and eventually became used universally.{{fact|date=June 2024}}