Re: Ms-Dos FST

["Peter Watson" <paw77@NOhotmailSPAM.com>]

"Sean" <sean@snerts-r-us.org> wrote in message
news:AJOp8.38$s_3.275082@news.ntplx.net...
> Or for that matter, it won't even read 1.44 floppies formated under more
> recent dos versions.

Well, actually it *might*.

The problem is that the "long filenames" introduced in Windows 95 and/or
Windows NT 4 are stored in directory entries with a combination of "type"
bits that include the "volume label" bit. So older programs like the MS-DOS
FST see a long filename and try to process it as a volume label. If you're
lucky, you'll just see junk in the directory display. If you're unlucky,
it's nothing that a reboot won't fix!  :-)

The workaround is to always give a MS-DOS disk a volume name when you format
it. (It's probably not a bad idea in any case!) This means that the volume
name is always found before any "long filename" directory entries.

Of course, this still doesn't allow you to *see* the long filenames, and it
doesn't solve the problem of handling disks with partition maps (like Zip
disks). And it certainly doesn't allow you to write to the disks! For all
that you need MUG!, or the original MS-DOS Utilities.  ;-)

--
Peter Watson
-- Write to MSDOS disks on the Apple IIgs?
-- Impossible!  ;-)