kevin@calvin.EE.CORNELL.EDU (Kevin Tubbs) (06/29/88)
In article <8362@bellcore.bellcore.com> jef@djinn.UUCP (Jonathan E. Flamm) writes: >...Is there >software available that will RELIABLY write 360K diskettes on 1.2MB drives >so they can be reliable read on 360K drives. I have had excellent success by "erasing" (with a magnet or bulk eraser) the diskette prior to formatting (in 360K format) in the 1.2MB drive. The major problem seems to be when a diskette has already been formatted in 360K format in a 360K drive, and then formatted as a 360K in a 1.2MB drive. This leaves behind remnants of the original 360K tracks, which the 1.2MB drive doesn't wipe out. You could also use a blank-out-of-the-box diskette, if you have no way to erase a used one. -- Kevin Tubbs, 5152 Upson, Cornell University, Ithaca NY, 14853 (607) 255-8703 kevin@calvin.ee.cornell.edu {uunet,rochester}!cornell!calvin!kevin
mintz@hpindda.HP.COM (Ken Mintz) (07/07/88)
> If you buy a copy of the COPYiiPC program, it includes a utility called > BULKERAS. This is a program that will completely blank out a disk. It > works with 1.2M drives as well...it's good insurance before you format your > 360K disks. This leaves me thoroughly confused (again). I understood that the 360K- disk-on-1.2M-drive problem was a physical limitation, namely that the 1.2M heads were narrower than the 360K drives and, thus, failed to overwrite all the magnetic fields. (I suspect subsequent read success on a 360K drive would depend on the sensitivity of the read head.) Degaussing (bulk erasing) works only because it affects the entire magnetic surface, not just the track under the head. But COPYiiPC would have to use the write heads of the drive to "erase" the disk. Thus, I don't see how this could be 100% reliable. Is there something wrong with my understanding? BTW, since you mentioned COPYiiPC: can it "copy" a 1.2M disk if all you have is one floppy drive and a hard drive -- that is, without asking you to constantly switch floppies? The ideal implementation would build a disk image in memory (if there's enough) or on the hard disk, then ask you to switch floppies. Does it work that way? Ken Mintz
mvolo@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Michael R. Volow) (07/08/88)
In article <4330094@hpindda.HP.COM>, mintz@hpindda.HP.COM (Ken Mintz) writes: > > If you buy a copy of the COPYiiPC program, it includes a utility called > > BULKERAS. This is a program that will completely blank out a disk. It > > works with 1.2M drives as well...it's good insurance before you format your > > 360K disks. > BTW, since you mentioned COPYiiPC: can it "copy" a 1.2M disk if all you > have is one floppy drive and a hard drive -- that is, without asking you > to constantly switch floppies? The ideal implementation would build a disk When we have tried to copy files from a 360K drive to a 1.2 meg drive it didn't work, and we got a message something like "adjusting drive speed". I have not tried the bulkerase feature. In the back of PC Mag there used to be a utility called, I believe, CPYAT2PC, which was supposed to let 1.2 M drives write to diskettes formatted in 360k drives, but I've never seen it used. Michael R. Volow 919 286 0411 Dept. of Psychiatry mvolo@ecsvax.UUCP Durham Vet Admin Medical Center Durham, N.C. 27712
mintz@hpindda.HP.COM (Ken Mintz) (07/10/88)
# SUMMARY OF RESPONSES TO MY QUERY: > BTW, since you mentioned COPYiiPC: can it "copy" a 1.2M disk if all you > have is one floppy drive and a hard drive -- that is, without asking you > to constantly switch floppies? The ideal implementation would build a disk > image in memory (if there's enough) or on the hard disk, then ask you to > switch floppies. Does it work that way? Several people sent email confirming that COPYiiPC will work adequately in a single-floppy environment. Apparently, DISKCOPY has also been improved to make full use of available memory. Thus, both try to minimze to disk switching. However, it also appears that neither will buffer to the hard disk, if available, to avoid switching disks more than once. One person indicated that COPYiiPC does n o t work on 1.2M floppies. However, one other person specifically indicated it would. It doesn't really matter to me: I misspoke (miswrote?). Since no software is distributed on HDDS disks, I was interested only in copying 360K disks on a 1.2M drive. Thanks for all the responses. Ken Mintz