Re: HD 5.25 format?

[rubywand@aol.com]

In article <Pine.PMDF.3.91.961207143301.135896B-100000@OBERLIN.EDU>, Toby
Reiter <str4552@OBERLIN.EDU> writes:

>On 6 Dec 1996 rubywand@aol.com wrote:
>
>> In article <585hl3$baa@jsbach.n2.net>, clairmnt@n2.net (Clairemont High
>> School) writes:
>> 
>> >
>> >Our class just got a large donation of HD 5.25 disks.
>> >CopyII+ won't format them: is there any way to make them usable w/ out

>> >A// machines? 
>> 
>> 
>>      Unfortunately, no. You will not be able to format your HD
diskettes
>> on Apple II 5.25" drives; nor, could you use the diskettes even should
>> they, somehow, be formatted on some other device. (DOS 3.3, ProDOS,
...,
>> on a II+, IIe, or IIgs ... it does not matter; you will get I/O
errors.)
>
>I have a question.  If the original poster is actually saying "is there 
>any way to make the usable w/ out A// machines?" does he or she really 
>want to use the disks on Apple II computers? I would assume that what 
>they are saying is that they have CopyII + on a PC (I think it was
developed 
>for DOS, maybe?) and since they have had problems, they think it is 
>because _only_ an Apple II would be able to format them.  I think the 
>whole problem here is that people have been responding as if their 
>request is the opposite (unless an A// machine is a special
disk-formatter 
>machine). (I.e. they want to use the disks on a PC).  I really don't know

>anything about PC's at all, maybe somebody could help them out?
>
>

     Maybe.

     The direct translation of the question is "Can we make the
High-Density (HD) diskettes useable without employing an Apple II
machine?"

     The question seems to say: "We can't format the diskettes on an Apple
II using Copy II+; is there some other way, perhaps on some other machine
(e.g. a IIgs or a PC or a Mac), to format the diskettes for use on our
Apple II's?"

     Even so, it is possible that a beginning computer user might believe
that Apple II Copy II+ is "for formatting diskettes" no matter the machine
on which they are to be used. It is, even, possible that someone using
very old PC's might be looking for ways to format HD diskettes for use on
PC's which have no 1.2MB HD drives.

     So, to remove ambiguities:

1. 5.25" HD diskettes cannot, generally, be formatted on or used by any
Apple II. (Some older HD diskettes which are, really, DD diskettes
qualified as HD, may work on an Apple II. Do not count on finding many of
these. True HD diskettes use a surface formulation which is, in effect,
harder to magnetize than the formulation used for DD diskettes.)

2. 5.25" HD diskettes are unlikely to be useable in any drive (Apple, PC,
Commodore 64/128, ...) designed for DD diskettes.

3. The place to use 5.25" HD diskettes is on a PC having a 5.25" HD drive.
PC 5.25" HD drives can, also, read, write, and format older PC DD
diskettes. The drives are dirt cheap

4. To use a 5.25" HD diskette on a PC having a 5.25" HD drive, it must be
formatted as a PC diskette. PC DOS and such utilities as XTree-Gold can do
the formatting. A 5.25" HD diskette should be formatted as a 1.2MB
diskette. PC DOS can format diskettes with or without adding the DOS
system files.  
 
     Now that the question has been beat around a bit, the original
questioner can clarify things if necessary.
  

Rubywand