enzerinkp@topaz.ucq.edu.au (Peter Enzerink, UCCQ, Australia.) (05/18/91)
In article <1991May16.220514.23423@ariel.unm.edu>, ee5391aa@triton.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax) writes: > Just that...how? For background, I have a 12MHz `286 box, which runs messdos > 3.3 with 4dos. Drive A: is a high-density 5.25" floppy; drive B: is a high- > density 3.5" microfloppy. Can this be done? Am I staring right through the > answer, which is sitting right there in the doc.s for all to see? > > Thanks, > d What's wrong with simply: >FORMAT b: /4 Works for me in a panasonic and chinon 3 1/2 drive! -- "Binary rules - 01001111 01001011" ^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v Peter Enzerink 3rd year Student, Bachelor Applied Science (Computing) DAAC Rep. (Computing) University College of Central Queensland Rockhampton 4702, Australia Internet: ENZERINP@JASPER.UCQ.EDU.AU Phone: +61 079 222815
winstead@faraday.ece.cmu.edu (Charles Holden Winstead) (05/18/91)
How's this for easy -- put tape over the hole which tells your drive that it's high density. Unless it's a PS/2, it should automatically format low density. (PS/2's format all disk HD unless specifically told not to.) -Chuck
lair@ellis.uchicago.edu (Scott A. Laird) (05/18/91)
In article <1991May18.055951.8941@fs7.ece.cmu.edu> winstead@faraday.ece.cmu.edu (Charles Holden Winstead) writes: > >How's this for easy -- > >put tape over the hole which tells your drive that it's high density. Unless >it's a PS/2, it should automatically format low density. (PS/2's format all >disk HD unless specifically told not to.) > >-Chuck Bzzzt, wrong. Sorry, simply putting in a low density disk (that's effectivly what you get by covering the high density hole) will not make format format it to low density, or at least not with any of the format commands I've used. It simply gives a bad media error. I'm not sure about the error for trying to format a high density floppy to low density (i.e., disk with h.d. hole showing, and typing format /f:720), but it doesn't seem to auto-detect the density. Of course, IBM solved the issue quite nicely by simply ignoring the hole, causing much wailing and gnashing of teeth for those of us who have to transfer data off 3.5's from PS/2s. New users _always_ format low density disks to high density, and can never figure out why other computers can't read them. I'd really _love_ to know the reason they did that! Basically, though, the DOS (at least 3.3/4.01) format commands default to 1.44 Mb on 3.5" high density drives, unless you play around with your config.sys (or format.exe) to tell it otherwise. You must explicitly tell it to format low density disks. Scott. -- Scott A. Laird | Any semblance of the above to anything is purely lair@midway.uchicago.edu | coincidental, as it was the result of an infinite The University of Chicago | number of monkeys sneaking in to use my computer | for the afternoon.
winstead@faraday.ece.cmu.edu (Charles Holden Winstead) (05/19/91)
>In article <1991May18.055951.8941@fs7.ece.cmu.edu> winstead@faraday.ece.cmu.edu (Charles Holden Winstead) writes: >> >>How's this for easy -- >> >>put tape over the hole which tells your drive that it's high density. Unless >>it's a PS/2, it should automatically format low density. (PS/2's format all >>disk HD unless specifically told not to.) >> >>-Chuck > > >Bzzzt, wrong. Sorry, simply putting in a low density disk (that's effectivly >what you get by covering the high density hole) will not make format format >it to low density, or at least not with any of the format commands I've used. >It simply gives a bad media error. I'm not sure about the error for trying >to format a high density floppy to low density (i.e., disk with h.d. hole >showing, and typing format /f:720), but it doesn't seem to auto-detect the >density. Of course, IBM solved the issue quite nicely by simply ignoring >the hole, causing much wailing and gnashing of teeth for those of us who >have to transfer data off 3.5's from PS/2s. New users _always_ format low >density disks to high density, and can never figure out why other computers >can't read them. I'd really _love_ to know the reason they did that! > > >Basically, though, the DOS (at least 3.3/4.01) format commands default to 1.44 >Mb on 3.5" high density drives, unless you play around with your config.sys >(or format.exe) to tell it otherwise. You must explicitly tell it to format >low density disks. > >Scott. >-- Hmm. At school, this is how I format high density disks on a DELL. This is run through Norton Utilities though. Actually, even if it's formatted low, the hole tells the DELL that it's high density unless I cover it. -Chuck
edwong@bucsf.bu.edu (Edward Wong) (05/19/91)
why do you want to cover the high density hole to format a disk? Don't the programs have any option for disk formatting? -- 8) _ _ | user's name: Edward Wong |_ |\ \ / /\ |_) |\ | ARPA: edwong@bucsf.bu.edu |_ |/ \^/ /==\ | \ |/ | UUCP: bucsf.bu.edu!edwong