Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!wuarchive!waikato.ac.nz!comp.vuw.ac.nz!actrix!Roger.Sheppard From: Roger.Sheppard@actrix.gen.nz (Roger Sheppard) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st.tech Subject: Re: FATs and Formatted Floppies Message-ID: <1991May28.024255.7700@actrix.gen.nz> Date: 28 May 91 02:42:55 GMT References: Organization: Actrix Networks Lines: 26 In article ralph@laas.fr (Ralph P. Sobek) writes: > I have tried a number of different formatters, both public and > shareware. I would very much like to know *why* most of these > formatters add 5 sector FATs? There are so few that propose 3 sector > FATs! > > As I understand it, GEMDOS accepts FATs with both 12-bit and 16-bit > entries. In all the floppies that I've seen, I have only seen FATs > with 12-bit entries. Here are my calculations: > > Is the real reason hidden somewhere in the Developer documentation? > If STs would generate 3 sector FATs, then we would not have all those > FAT viruses. > -- > Ralph P. Sobek Disclaimer: The above ruminations are my own. > ralph@laas.fr Addresses are ordered by importance. > ralph@laas.uucp, or ...!uunet!laas!ralph > If all else fails, try: sobek@eclair.Berkeley.EDU > =============================================================================== I did read some where that the Atari 5 sector FAT, was a Bug, should be 3 sectors, and this was going to be fixed in TOS 1.4. But because of compatibility problems it had to be left in. -- Roger W. Sheppard 85 Donovan Rd, Kapiti New Zealand...