Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!eecae!netnews.upenn.edu!rutgers!att!homxb!homxc!marty
From: marty@homxc.UUCP (M.B.BRILLIANT)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: high capacity floppies
Message-ID: <5844@homxc.UUCP>
Date: 6 Mar 89 17:45:26 GMT
References: <7979@xanth.cs.odu.edu>
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel
Lines: 30

From article <7979@xanth.cs.odu.edu>, by rlb@cs.odu.edu (Robert Lee Bailey):
[ about formatting DSDD floppies above 360K on a high-density drive ]
> ....
> I would be curious to know what machines/dos version that 800KFMAT will
> work on.  I tried it on three different PCs (UNISYS 386, Honeywell AP,
> and Zenith) without success. The format program seems to work fine, but
> none of the machines will recognize the 800K format either with or
> without the 800K driver program.
> 
> On the other hand, CONFMT will format diskettes that I can read on ALL
> of the PCs (as long as they are using DOS 3.3). And no driver is needed!

I can't tell you where 800KFMAT works, but I can tell you that on my
system, CONFMT didn't do any better than 800KFMAT at 800K.  In both
cases I got "sector not found" errors trying to write large files (or
trying to read after writing).  I am running MS-DOS 3.3 on an XTurbo
clone with a DTK motherboard, a DTK/ERSO BIOS, and DTK add-ons.

Another aspect of failed 800K formatting is that thereafter the
diskette gives "sector not found" errors when formatted normally at
360K. I fixed that by putting the diskette in its sleeve and erasing it
with a magnet (the kind used to post things on refrigerators - take the
disk to the kitchen, not the magnet to the computer nook!!! :-)

M. B. Brilliant					Marty
AT&T-BL HO 3D-520	(201) 949-1858		Home (201) 946-8147
Holmdel, NJ 07733	att!homxc!marty

Disclaimer: Opinions stated herein are mine unless and until my employer
	    explicitly claims them; then I lose all rights to them.