Re: I can't format 3.5 floppies!

[Slick <PAYSlick_RCBD@hotmail.com>]

ATMWII wrote:
> 
> The story I got/heard years ago was the iron oxide or whatever they use on
> the disks was chunkier on 800k disks than on 1.44's. At one time I used to
> "punch" 800k disks to use them in 1.44 floppy drives. This seemed to work
> fairly well, but going the other way, I don't remember...
> 
> My thinking, was I had a ton of 800k disks and almost none of the 1.44's...
> 
> I'd suggest investing in some new 800k disks as the magnetic structure on
> those older 800k's might not be reliable for extended periods...
My original backup copy of System 4.0 system disk still works, and it
nine years old. True, it hasn't seen much use in the last five, but it
got lots of use before I upgraded to 5.0.4.

As for the disk problems. When all I had was one AppleDisk 3.5 and one
AppleDisk 5.25, I couldn't get ANY HD disks to work. Both the 3.5" and
5.25" disks gave me error messages when I tried to format and use them.
A SuperDrive connected to the disk drive port or a PC Transporter card
will not use HD disks either. You need a SuperDrive and a controller
card to use HD disks. For some reason, even putting scotch or masking
tape over the hole didn't work with an AE 800K drive (The AppleDisk
drive broke four years ago, and the AE drive broke last year). The tape
trick didn't even work with the SuperDrive until the card for it came.

In short, to use HD 3.5" disks, get a SuperDrive (or equivilent) and a
3.5" disk drive controller card to put in your IIGS. Otherwise, you need
to find real 3.5" DSDD disks. They are getting hard to find, put they're
out there.
-- 
Notice to spammers: This is to be considered a contract. You may only
use my e-mail box for advertiseing IF you send me $10 (US) for the first
kilobyte of data, and $1 for each additionial K of data. If I have not
recieved the money withing 1 week of the arrival of the message in my
e-mail box, the price for downloading and archiving for the week will be
$100. If you do not agree to these terms, do not send me bulk e-mail.
Remove the pay from my address if you agree to these terms.