Re: can't reformat 720K disks as 800K

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Randy Shackelford <shack@deimos.frii.com> wrote:

> I got a box of ~100 720K DOS formatted DD 3.5 disks which were about to be
> tossed at work, since DD disks are starting to get hard to find. My IIgs with
> superdrive card and drive can see the disks as 720K DOS disks ok, but reports
> an error when I try to reformat the disks as 800K ProDOS or HFS. It hoses
> the existing file system, since the disks immediately cause the initialize
> dialog to pop up on the Mac after the IIgs spits 'em out. The Mac can reformat
> the disks pretty as you please, either when they're unrecognizable or by using
> the erase disk menu option when the DOS disks show up. The IIgs happily uses
> the disks after that. What gives? Is this a bug?

Yes.  The SuperDrive controller on the Apple II is not very happy with
720K disks - it seems to get confused after you have used one.  I've
also had difficulty formatting them on the IIgs.

You should have no problem if you reformat the disk in an Apple 3.5
Drive.

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand