Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!gatech!dscatl!nanovx!jwren!jcw
From: jcw@jwren.UUCP (John C. Wren)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: make your own HD 3 1/2 in floppies
Message-ID: <242@jwren.UUCP>
Date: 22 Jul 89 22:08:56 GMT
References: <26260@amdcad.AMD.COM> <26262@amdcad.AMD.COM> <563@amms4.UUCP> <1686@neoucom.UUCP>
Reply-To: jcw@jwren.UUCP (John C. Wren)
Organization: Home For Wayward Computers
Lines: 25

In article <1686@neoucom.UUCP> wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) writes:
>
>  [ Stuff deleted ]
>
>I get the 'luxury' on my PS/2-80 of having it mistakenly format
>everything as HD, ignoring the density.  To properly format 720K
>disks, I have to remember to specify "FORMAT /N:9 A:", where N: is
>an option switch to specify 9 sectors.  I'd be curious on hearing
>from people that have clone machines, if you can force a format to
>HD by typing "FORMAT /N:18". :-)  By the way, I'm using genuine IBM
>DOS 3.3 on that machine.
>

   Ain't DOS's fault.  Those miserable co-ops at IBM who design their
machines apparently didn't read the instruction manual for the 3.5"
drive, and total hosed-up the density sense line.  I ordered a SYSGEN
3.5" external drive, set it up, shoved a diskette in, and formatted it.
Lo and behold my 720K diskette now had 1.44mb on it, plus a lot of
errors.  I called to tell them I like to product, but why do the ignore
the sense line?  They said "we had to do it because IBM did it".  I can
understand their thinking.  After all, when you come to expect certain
behavior from a device, you have to replicate it.

						- John C. Wren
						  jcw@jwren