[comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc] Disk from model 30 wont be read in other machines

jumper@hobbes.ncsu.edu (Michael Lanham) (11/29/90)

I have some backup copies of my ALDUS PAGEMAKER 3.0 on 720 KB DS DD disks
formatted in my PS/2 model 30.  I used diskcopy to copy the originals
to the backups alos using the model 30 as the copy platform.

My problem is this: I tried to get my zenith 386sx to read the disks and
install the program and the install program refuses to recognize the 
PROGRAM/DICTIONARY disk.  DOS will get a dir from that disk, copy files, chkdsk
for bad sectors(none) but the PM INSTALL program wont read the disk.

WHY??????  I tried to use a friends model 50 (IBM PS/2) and his machine
would not read the second disk either.  All three machines read the INSTALL
disk but only my model 30 will read the other needed diskettes.

Help would be deeply appreciated

--
He who will not reason, is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool;
and he who dares not is a slave.      --- Sir William Drummond

Michael Lanham       mjlanham@eos.ncsu.edu   &  jumper@.catt.ncsu.edu

macphee@convex.COM (Scott C. Mac Phee) (11/29/90)

In article <1990Nov29.060240.11369@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> jumper@hobbes.ncsu.edu (Michael Lanham) writes:
>I used diskcopy to copy the originals
>to the backups alos using the model 30 as the copy platform.
>
>
> blah blah..
>
>WHY??????  I tried to use a friends model 50 (IBM PS/2) and his machine
>would not read the second disk either.  All three machines read the INSTALL
>disk but only my model 30 will read the other needed diskettes.
>
>Help would be deeply appreciated
>

Wild Guess, here.  If the disk is a double-density disk, your low-density
3 1/2 formatted it low density.  The high density drive looks at the
physical mark (a hole thru the corner) of the diskette and says " Hey,
this is a high-density diskette!  I can't read it!".

Compare a low density floppy with a high density floppy and the physical
differences are obvious.  Maybe if you simply cover the hole on the
low density format diskette, the high-d drive will read it (?).

--
===============================================================================
CONVEX Computer Corporation (CVX)                  Richardson, Texas
Scott C. Mac Phee (..uunet.uu.net!convex.com!macphee)   214-497-4772
===============================================================================

shack@cs.arizona.edu (David Shackelford) (12/01/90)

In article <109480@convex.convex.com> macphee@convex.COM (Scott C. Mac Phee) writes:
>In article <1990Nov29.060240.11369@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> jumper@hobbes.ncsu.edu (Michael Lanham) writes:
>>I used diskcopy to copy the originals
>>to the backups alos using the model 30 as the copy platform.
>>
>>
>> blah blah..
>>
>>WHY??????  I tried to use a friends model 50 (IBM PS/2) and his machine
>>would not read the second disk either.  All three machines read the INSTALL
>>disk but only my model 30 will read the other needed diskettes.
>>
>>Help would be deeply appreciated
>>
>Wild Guess, here.  If the disk is a double-density disk, your low-density
>3 1/2 formatted it low density.  The high density drive looks at the
>physical mark (a hole thru the corner) of the diskette and says " Hey,
>this is a high-density diskette!  I can't read it!".
>

This could be the problem, but not likely.  Also, there is a technical
mistake in this posting -- the HD diskette has an extra hole, the DD
diskette does not.  This means that on some computers, if a DD disk was
formatted at HD, the drive sees the lack of a hole and assumes it can
only be formatted DD.  It fails to read the formatting at 720K and 
returns an error.

The reason I'm not sure this is the actual problem, is that many (possibly
all) PS/2 50's have the type of drive that doesn't care if that hole is
present or not.  Also, the mismatch problem only occurs if the diskette
is formatted at 1.44M, so if the original diskette that was DISKCOPY'd
was formatted at 720K it shouldn't cause this problem.

If the original disk was 720K, I recommend trying the copy again by using
FORMAT (or other suitable replacement) first, then copying using some
other means than DISKCOPY and see if that works.

Hope this is some help,

Dave    | shack@cs.arizona.edu