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From: andrew@otago.ac.nz
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: Reading disks without the BIOS
Message-ID: <1991Jun11.181239.513@otago.ac.nz>
Date: 11 Jun 91 06:52:00 GMT
Organization: University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Lines: 17

This is probably one of those 100 times plus questions but...

How do I find out what format the disk in the floppy drive is if all I know is
that the disk is 5.25" and readable by the PC disk interface?

Or, in other words... I have a disk that may be 320K, 360K, or 1.2Meg, although
I don't know which. The disk will read on a PC although the disk in NOT in
MS-DOS!  This means I cant read the BPB from the first sector on the disk
(because its not there) and I can't read the FAT-ID (its not there either).

I want to be able to sense what format the disk is in so I can write a program
that will read the disks without relying on the BIOS.  I also want to be able
to read disks formated with 400KFORMAT, a neat Publuc Domain program that is
available from some of the buliten boards around here... this means I need to
be able to work out what tracking and sectoring the disk uses!

Andrew.