IBM HD drive capacity
Erik William Strack
I have a driver on my Amiga that, in addition to a hard disk
backup program, will store 2.00 MB uncompressed data with a HD drive that
can only store 1.44 MB in IBM format. This is achieved with a denser physical
pattern on the disk and lack of filesystem space used.
Does anyone know of an IBM utility that will store more than 1.44MB
on a standard 1.44MB HD drive?? I love storing 2.0 MB per disk, and now that
I'm only going to have an IBM at college I don't want to revert to backing up
my hard drive with only 1.44MB uncompressed per disk.
Thanks in advance.
-- Erik
Christ van Willegen
The program I use is FMT. It is freeware, written by Hans Mons. It is
able to put 1704 kilobytes (with 1024 bytes/kilo), so it's 1744896 bytes
per disk. This is done by using 82 tracks with 21 sectors per track.
The program uses a small TSR driver in memory. It's 992 bytes high, and
can be loaded into high memory.
Here's the complete help file.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Usage: FMT D: [/?] [/145789HIJK] [/SV] [/D:DirSize] [/C:CSize] [/+-] [/FMY] |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Parameter Function Default settings |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| /? Display this text. No help |
| |
| D: Drive to format -- |
| |
| /4 Format a 360 kByte Floppy 360 kByte in a 5.25" drive |
| /5 Format a 400 kByte Floppy |
| /7 Format a 720 kByte Floppy 720 kByte in a 3.5" drive |
| /8 Format a 800 kByte Floppy |
| /9 Format a 960 kByte 3.5" Floppy |
| /1 Format a 1 MByte 3.5" Floppy |
| /H Format a 1.2 MByte 5.25" or |
| a 1.4 MByte 3.5" Floppy |
| /I Format a 1.3 MByte 5.25" or |
| a 1.5 MByte 3.5" Floppy |
| /J Format a 1.4 MByte 5.25" or |
| a 1.6 MByte 3.5" Floppy |
| /K Format a 1.44 MByte 5.25" or |
| a 1.7 MByte 3.5" Floppy |
| |
| /S Format a bootable floppy. The floppy can be made bootable|
| with the SYS command. |
| |
| /V Write a Volume Lable on the No Volume Lable is written. |
| disk. |
| |
| /N The user is asked for a A random serial number is |
| Disk Serial Number. given to the disk. |
| |
| /+ Format one extra track 40 Tracks (360 kB, 400 kB) or |
| /- Format one track less 80 Tracks (720 kB, 800 kB, |
| 960 kB, 1.2 MB and 1.4 MB) |
| |
| /D:DirSize Create a Root Directory of 7 sectors (112 entries) with |
| DirSize sectors. FMT will 360, 400, 720, 800, 960 kB and |
| adjust DirSize to a value 1 MB or 14 sectors (224 |
| acceptable for DOS (max. 15 enties) with 1.2 up formats. |
| sectors, ...). |
| |
| /C:CSize The Cluster Size is set to 2 Sectors (360, 400, 720, 800, |
| CSize sectors. Cluster sizes 960 kB and 1 MB) or 1 Sector |
| of 1, 2, 4 or 8 Sectors only. 1.2 MB and up) |
| |
| /F Fast mode. The floppy is The floppy is verified and |
| NOT verified. A bad sector scanned for bad sectors. |
| scan is NOT performed. |
| |
| /M Screen output via DOS Screen output is directly |
| routines. Needed on some written to the video memory. |
| not very compatible PCs. |
| |
| /Y Special format request for |
| the 720 and 800 kByte disks. |
| |
| Valid Options are : |
| FMT/4--- b: /m Format a 37 track low density floppy in drive B: and |
| use MSDOS screen output. |
| FMT A: /7 /+/+ Format an 82 track "720 kByte" floppy in drive A: |
| FMT /+c:1/D:2 A: Format a 41 track low density floppy in drive A: with |
| a Cluster Size of 1 sector and a Root Directory of |
| 2 sectors. |
| |
| *** WARNING : FMT does accept the /7 and /8 options for a drive that |
| identifies itself as a 360 kByte drive. This gives the |
| possibility to format in 5.25" 80 track drives and in 3.5" |
| drives in PC/XT class machines. |
| |
| YOUR FLOPPY DRIVE CAN BE DAMAGED IF YOU USE THE /7 OR /8 |
| OPTION WITH A STANDARD 360 kByte DRIVE. |
| |
| FMT can be aborted by pressing <ESC> or <Ctrl-C> (c) HM |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| NOTES : |
| |
| * FMT only can format floppies in the physical drives A: and B: |
| |
| * For all formats with 9, 10, 12 and 13 sectors per track Double Density |
| floppies can be used. |
| |
| * For the formats of 1.2 MByte or more you need High Density floppies. |
| The Double Density floppies give unreliable results with these formats. |
| |
| * 360 kByte formatting (9 sectors per track, 40 tracks) is possible in |
| all 5.25" drives. |
| |
| * 400 kByte formatting (10 sectors per track, 40 tracks) is possible in |
| all 5.25" drives. |
| |
| * 720 kByte formatting (9 sectors per track, 80 tracks) is possible in both |
| 3.5" (720 kB and 1.44 MB) and in 5.25" high capacity (1.2 MByte) drives. |
| |
| * 800 kByte formatting (10 sectors per track, 80 tracks) is possible in |
| 3.5" (720 kB and 1.44 MB) and in 5.25" high capacity (1.2 MByte) drives. |
| |
| * 960 kByte formatting (12 sectors per track, 80 tracks) is possible in |
| 3.5" (720 kB and 1.44 MB) drives. |
| |
| * 1 MByte formatting (13 sectors per track, 80 tracks, Interleave 2) is |
| possible in many 3.5" (720 kB and 1.44 MB) drives. |
| |
| * 1.2 MByte formatting (15 sectors per track, 80 tracks) is possible in |
| high capacity 5.25" drives. |
| |
| * 1.3 MByte 5.25" formatting (16 sectors per track, 80 tracks), |
| * 1.4 MByte 5.25" formatting (17 sectors per track, 80 tracks) and |
| * 1.44 MByte 5.25" formatting (18 sectors per track, 80 tracks, Interleave 2)
| is possible in many high capacity 5.25" drives. |
| |
| * 1.44 MByte 3.5" formatting (18 sectors per track, 80 tracks) is possible in
| high capacity 3.5" drives. |
| |
| * 1.5 MByte 3.5" formatting (19 sectors per track, 80 tracks), |
| 1.6 MByte 3.5" formatting (20 sectors per track, 80 tracks) and |
| 1.7 MByte 3.5" formatting (21 sectors per track, 80 tracks, Interleave 2) |
| is possible in high capacity 3.5" drives. |
| |
| * The special formats for the Philips :YES (/Y option) are : |
| 720 kByte : FatID byte = FEh, without /Y the FatID = F9h. |
| Root directory of 11 sectors (176 entries). |
| The /D and /C options are switched off. |
| 800 kByte : FatID byte = FBh, without /Y the FatID = F9h. |
| Root directory of 12 sectors (192 entries). |
| A FAT size of 2 x 4 sectors. |
| The /D and /C options are switched off. |
| |
| * To use the new formats supported by FMT you in general need MS-DOS or |
| PC-DOS version 3.2 or higher. |
| A lot of AT computers can use the extended formats without any problem, |
| except the 960 kB, 1 MB, 1.5 and higher formats. |
| If your computer contains a BIOS that does not accept these formats |
| you can install the XDSK (less than 1 kB), to add more flexibility to |
| your BIOS. In most cases your computer now can use the extended formats. |
| |
| If you load XDSK put it in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file before any other |
| program that intercepts INT 13h. |
| |
| ! These programs (FMT and XDSK) come to you on an "as is" basis. |
| ! No guarantee is given for the correct working of FMT and XDSK. |
| ! No responsibility is accepted for any damage or loss of data caused by |
| ! FMT or XDSK. |
| |
| Copyright (c) Hans Mons 1994 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Hope this helps.
The program is NOT on any FTP site (yet, I think), but you can request
it from me.
--
This message was brought to you by: Christ van Willegen (rcs...@urc.tue.nl)
GU -d+ H-- s++:+>++: !g p?+ au- a- w++ v>--- c++++ UL++++ P? L+>+++ E---
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h! f+ r++ !n y+ Th - th - that's all, folks! Watch out for a new episode!
is3...@otago.ac.nz
> bc...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Erik William Strack) writes:
>> I have a driver on my Amiga that, in addition to a hard disk
>>backup program, will store 2.00 MB uncompressed data with a HD drive that
>>can only store 1.44 MB in IBM format. This is achieved with a denser physical
>>pattern on the disk and lack of filesystem space used.
>
>> Does anyone know of an IBM utility that will store more than 1.44MB
>>on a standard 1.44MB HD drive?? I love storing 2.0 MB per disk, and now that
>>I'm only going to have an IBM at college I don't want to revert to backing up
>>my hard drive with only 1.44MB uncompressed per disk.
>> Thanks in advance.
>> -- Erik
>
> The program I use is FMT. It is freeware, written by Hans Mons. It is
> able to put 1704 kilobytes (with 1024 bytes/kilo), so it's 1744896 bytes
> per disk. This is done by using 82 tracks with 21 sectors per track.
>
use 2m21.zip, this is found on many ftp sites, and formats a HD disk to
1804 KB. It also speeds up the Data Transfer Rate. It also needs a TSR loaded.
you can find it at teeri.oulu.fi under pub\msdos\programminng
Dr Grieve = Dr Grieve Software = quick10.zip = dos by alias