>I got 'mkfs_1.4.hqx' from ftp.netbsd.org, and extracted it,
>then ran it. It didn't recognized A/UX Root partition(Yes, I
>know how to install, I use NetBSD on my Mac now). I tried
>mkfs 1.2 also, it worked fine.
>
Mkfs 1.2 made the assumption that the disk Partition Map was something 
like 20 entries in size and used anything that looked like it might be a 
valid entry.  Mkfs 1.4 uses the size of the Partition Map as recorded in 
the Partition Map itself. Unfortunately there is a little known bug in 
the way some disk formatters create the Partition Map when they format 
the disk. Some, but not all, formatters have an off-by-one error in 
sizing the Partition Map. The latest Apple HD Formatter exhibits this as 
I recall.  Certain 3rd party disk formatters catch this and report the 
disk as damamged, but correctable.  We could "fix" mkfs to handle this 
off-by-one error and use the block following the Partition Map if it 
appears to look like a Map Entry, but this seems a little dangerous as 
the data usually found in this area is the SCSI Disk Driver for MacOS.  
If this Partition gets damamged and the disk is the primary boot disk, 
the Mac ROM will abort the boot process with Death Chimes even *BEFORE* 
allowing one to boot off the floppy!  Having done this to myself when I 
was working on mkfs I decided not to inflict the same harsh lesson on 
others by not "fixing" the Partition Map off-by-one error in mkfs.  Maybe 
that wasn't the right decision, but it seemed correct at the time.

Another work-around, as many have reported, is to create a minimum sized 
MacOS Partition at the end of the disk. This forces the creation of a 
Partition Map entry at the end of the Partition Map which, if we have the 
off-by-one error, won't be seen by mkfs.  This is also a good place to 
put the Booter and friends.

>I opend mkfs 1.4 with the ResEdit and looked a resorce
>"DATA" and found it corrupted.

Strange, I wasn't even aware there was a Resource named "DATA" in Mkfs.  
I knwo others have successfully downloaded mkfs 1.4 from ftp.netbsd.org, 
so maybe something got munched in your download?

-bob