Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!uw-beaver!ubc-cs!alberta!calgary!cpsc!datta From: datta@cpsc.ucalgary.ca (Slarti) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware Subject: Re: HD disks in a low density drive Message-ID: <2204@cs-spool.calgary.UUCP> Date: 6 Dec 89 06:43:00 GMT References: <4658@blake.acs.washington.edu> Sender: news@calgary.UUCP Reply-To: datta@acs-sun-fsf.UUCP (Slarti) Distribution: comp Organization: U. of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Lines: 20 In article <4658@blake.acs.washington.edu> phaedrus@blake.acs.washington.edu (the Wanderer) writes: > 2) Let's say you ignore 1), and initialize a high-density disk with a >400/800K format in a 400/800K drive. You then try to use said disk in a >FDHD (high-density) drive. The Apple FDHD will steadfastly refuse to admit >the possibility that an HD disk could conceivably be formatted in anything >other than the HD format, and the Mac will give you the infamous "This disk is >unreadable" dialog, even though the disk is fine. There is a way around this: >just put a strip of dark tape over the square hole at the top-left corner of >the HD disk. Of course, beware the usual hazards of tape getting stuck in >your drive and disks getting stuck and other such catastrophes. I have found that if you put the 800K formatted HD disk in a SuperDrive, you get the unique "This disk is incorrectly formatted for this drive" error message, and this appears to be the only case where that message occurs, so you can tell what's going wrong. I have also found (this could be my imagination) that if I format HD disks low-density, they sometimes refuse to reformat in an HD format and are thus basically trashed.... I have no idea why this occurs or if it is caused by the 800K format, but it is something to think about.