Re: DOS 3.3

["Tom Zuchowski" <tjz@mindspring.com>]

The problem that you cite with writing/corrupting disks is commonly known
as a "broken disk drive".  If the drives =are= corrupting the disks, then
they have experienced some sort of electronic failure and require repair. 
But this is in fact a very rare occurrence, as the old Disk ][ drives are
built like tanks and commonly last 15 years or more with no failure.  More
likely is that the drives need speed adjustments or track alignments.  More
likely yet is that the disks are actually bad. Magnetic media is a
TEMPORARY storage medium; data stored on disks or tapes goes bad all by
itself after a number of years.

Do you get =anything= at bootup, or do the disks just spin and spin and
spin?

I'll be happy to send you a disk with DOS 3.3 and ProDOS on it for a buck
to cover my expenses.  If you like, you could send me a few of your disks
and I could check them for you.

TomZ

Stanley W. Boyett <swboyett@ro.com> wrote in article
<01bbbfa6$53619100$c45cd8cd@sh1.ro.com>...
> I have one A2plus and one A2e. I inherited these machines with a bunch of
> software/disks of questionable condition. Both machines work but, will
not
> boot a disk. Someone told me of a problem with A2 disks that will cause
> them to write/corrupt ANY disk inserted...even write protected disks. Is
> this so? If it is, then even my DOS 3.3 masters are gone. I have
contacted
> Apple trying to get replacement disks but felt like I had time-warped
back
> to the days of Jack Tramiel and Atari.
> 
> How can I get new system masters?
> Has anyone heard of this problem with the the disk drives?
> 
> I am close to burning new OS proms and writing my own DOS. But would
rather
> save myself the work.
> 
> Thanks,
> Stan Boyett
> 
>