[comp.os.msdos.programmer] Reading disks without the BIOS

andrew@otago.ac.nz (06/11/91)

This is probably one of those 100 times plus questions but...

How do I find out what format the disk in the floppy drive is if all I know is
that the disk is 5.25" and readable by the PC disk interface?

Or, in other words... I have a disk that may be 320K, 360K, or 1.2Meg, although
I don't know which. The disk will read on a PC although the disk in NOT in
MS-DOS!  This means I cant read the BPB from the first sector on the disk
(because its not there) and I can't read the FAT-ID (its not there either).

I want to be able to sense what format the disk is in so I can write a program
that will read the disks without relying on the BIOS.  I also want to be able
to read disks formated with 400KFORMAT, a neat Publuc Domain program that is
available from some of the buliten boards around here... this means I need to
be able to work out what tracking and sectoring the disk uses!

Andrew.