On Tue, 9 Jun 1998, Dr. Bill Studenmund wrote:
> On Tue, 9 Jun 1998, Simon Raahauge DeSantis wrote:
> 
> > > Insert a formatted 800k floppy, su to root, "newfs /dev/rfd0a", "mount
> > > /dev/fd0a /mnt", play around, "eject fd0", have fun.
> > 
> > Does this mean I need to format the floppy in MacOS? I can't just pop it
> > in and newfs it? MacOS 7.6 on my Q650 doesn't seem to want to do an 800K
> > format.
> 
> That's weird. My G3, running 8.0, was quite happy to format an old 800K
> disk. So it's not like Apple's dropped 800K support.
> 
> Are you sure you tried with an 800K floppy? HD (1.44 MB) floppies are
> keyed to be different, and the Mac can tell the difference between the
> two. It will only give you choices appropriate for the floppy you've
> inserted. It does this as the recording standard's a bit different between
> 1.44 and 800K floppies; the write current's lower for 1.44. If 800K-format
> data ever gets written on a 1.44 MB floppy, the latter should be bulk
> erased before using as a 1.44 MB floppy or else you might get data errors
> (it was explained to me that the 1.44 MB erase head might not fully erase
> 800 K data).

Aha, that must've been it. I don't think I have any 800K floppies lying
around. Is it possible to format a 1.44 as an 800K? I seem to remember
doing something along those lines a few years ago to work with some older
macs at school...
> 
> Take care,
> 
> Bill
> 

-Simon Raahauge DeSantis