Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!cernvax!chx400!ugun2b!ugsc2a!fisher
From: fisher@sc2a.unige.ch
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: How to determine what type of drive?
Message-ID: <1990Nov30.105321.322@sc2a.unige.ch>
Date: 30 Nov 90 08:53:21 GMT
References: <1990Nov29.145358.14577@cbnewsm.att.com>
Organization: University of Geneva, Switzerland
Lines: 23

In article <1990Nov29.145358.14577@cbnewsm.att.com>, mds1@cbnewsm.att.com (marc.d.sayre) writes:
> 
> I have been reading a lot of books about dos bios etc and know
> about bios calls and dos calls. I know how to get information of the
> boot block fat table etc etc. But how in the hell do you determine
> without having a floppy in your drive, what type of drive you are dealing
> with?? Usually you can read this of the floppy disk if it already has been
> formatted.
> 
> I 've been wanting to know this for a while and therefor are posting this to
> all ms-dos wizzards out there!!!!

I've been using a program by Russell Nelson (1988) called "df" for some time
now.  It shows the drive usage for all drives.  As it comes in C source, I
know it uses a dos data structure known as the "list of lists", containing
pointers to "drive info" tables.  Maybe these tables contain what you're
looking for.

For more information about these tables, you should check the famous "list
of interrupts" available at many sites.  If you'd like to have this "df"
program, e-mail me a note.

Markus Fischer, Dpt. of Anthropology, Geneva CH