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  Disk Header 

The disk header is a conceptually just another file-stream (a sequence of blocks). It starts with some flags, disk name, and BAM (not neccessarily in that order), and is followed by the disk directory.

Unfortunately there is no block on disk that identifies the start of the disk header or the size. The firmware of the disk drive knows where the header starts:

Starting BlockDisk TypeSize
(blocks)
TrackSector
11CMD hard and floppy disksvaries
1801540/1541/1551/1570 or 1571 single-sided1
5301571 double-sided2
40015813

The location of the disk's name and BAM within the header varies by disk format.


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