cline@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nicholas Cline) (02/19/90)
This is probably a novice question, but... Could anyone tell me how I can transfer files from a PC to an ST? Are the disk formats compatable? Is there a program for either that will allow it to read the other's disks? Thanks, Nick Cline cline@silver.ucs.indiana.edu
stowe@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (stowe) (02/20/90)
In article <36263@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> cline@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nicholas Cline) writes: >This is probably a novice question, but... Could anyone tell me how >I can transfer files from a PC to an ST? Are the disk formats >compatable? Is there a program for either that will allow it to >read the other's disks? Thanks, > >Nick Cline >cline@silver.ucs.indiana.edu > Nick, The PC and the ST use the same basic file structure. You can take a 3.5" disk that was formatted and written on a PC and read it and write to it on an ST. The exception to the rule is, obviously, disks that have been formatted on a high density (1.44Meg) drive on the PC. The ST has 720K drives currently. Secondly, if you format a disk on the ST with a TOS earlier than 1.4, you will need to use a different format program other than the one that comes with the ST. The IBM looks for a particular boot block that, until TOS 1.4, the ST didn't write onto the disk. There are several ST programs that will format the disk with the IBM boot blocks in place, however, not the least of which is NeoDesk. Hope that helps. Holly -=-=- -=-=- -=-=- stowe@silver.ucs.indiana.edu You're not strange. I am. -=-=- -=-=- -=-=-
exspes@bath.ac.uk (P E Smee) (02/20/90)
In article <36263@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> cline@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nicholas Cline) writes: >This is probably a novice question, but... Could anyone tell me how >I can transfer files from a PC to an ST? Are the disk formats >compatable? Is there a program for either that will allow it to >read the other's disks? Thanks, The disk formats are compatible-ish. You must, of course, have compatible physical media on both machines. Normally, this means that your ST must have a double-sided (3.5 inch) drive -- PC 3.5 inch drives are all double-sided. For ANY version of TOS you can then transfer files by swapping disks between the two machines, if you follow two rules. First, the disk MUST be formatted on the IBM PC; ST's are happy with PC-formatted disks, but PC's don't like standard (desktop-formatted) ST disks. (If your PC has a Quad (or High) Density drive -- 1.4 Meg -- you must make sure you format in 'normal' density mode.) Second, you must not use subdirectories. Put all the files on the top level of the disk (the root), not in folders. (Folders sometimes work and sometimes not when interchanging. Best to avoid them.) For some of the later versions of TOS these restrictions are not necessary and you can simply swap disks with no problem. Also, some public domain formatters on the ST will format a disk so that a PC will accept it. However, if you heed these restrictions, you don't have to worry about your TOS level, and you can do the swap using only standard parts. -- Paul Smee, Univ of Bristol Comp Centre, Bristol BS8 1TW, Tel +44 272 303132 Smee@bristol.ac.uk :-) (..!uunet!ukc!gdr.bath.ac.uk!exspes if you MUST)