Hi all,
At least, I had a successful HD Format.
I used "Format a: /FS:FAT" under XP DOSbox, then "FORMAT "flp1_name*D""
under QPC2 as suggested. This gave the usual format "sound" under QPC2 (as
known from SQB...). A native format under QPC2 is not possible, there is the
same problem, as Rich wrote. Wonder why...?
Thanks to all.
Cheers...Ralf
From Rich Mellor
On 15/03/2012 19:04, Dilwyn Jones wrote:
Ralf Reköndt wrote:
as it is not possible to format a QL DD or HD disk under QPC2/Windows
XP:
Does anyone know a QL program, which writes a suitable map on a PC
formatted disk, so that it is usable as a QL disk?
Dave Walker's QXLformat program should be able to do this (on my site at
http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/files/index.html) , although I thought QPC2
could
format disks on XP. I know DD disks can be impossible on some versions
of
Windows (e.g. Windows 7).
Thank you. I have tried it under XP with a 3,5" USB drive, but whithout
success. I also do not know (not tried) if it is ever possible to format
a DD disk under XP...? Maybe just HD?
Ah, a USB floppy disk drive. I too have had problems with this (my old PC
was an XP one, not tried it with the Win 7 64-bit one yet).
It was unreliable - sometimes it would work and sometimes not. I don't
know if it might help - try using the *H and *D qualifiers to force it to
format to a given density in case it is having difficulty detecting the
disk type.
FORMAT "flp1_name*D" to force it to try double density
FORMAT "flp1_name*H" to force it to try high density
Is the PC able to format reliably from Windows XP? Perhaps format it under
Windows first then try a "reformat" in QPC2.
Also, this is a silly question to ask, but have you checked the USB floppy
disk appears as drive a: in Windows? (so QPC is trying to use the right
drive). It should if no other floppy disk drive on the system.
The following is a quote from an email by Norman Dunbar last September
where he reported he'd been able to format from the DOS command line box
(hope he wasn't referring to a Windows box on a Linux system):
<quote>
Ok, formatting a blank disc fails in Windows Explorer because there are
no options in any of the drop down lists for capacity, volume name etc.
The OK button works (as does Cancel) warns me that formatting will
destroy all data on the disc, then OK just ignores me and does nothing.
Format a: /FS:FAT in a dos box works perfectly.
Once DOS formated, QPC can read it as a DOS formatted floppy. So far so
good.
In SBasic, the format flp1_TEST command works. (At least, using a 720 KB
disc it does.) However, it formats to 1.44 Mb rather than 720 KB and
it's noisy. There are no HD holes in the floppy - so maybe the drive is
lying to QPC/Windows?
A completely blank unformatted disc also formats under QPC - but this
time correctly to 720 Kb. This time the format is as quiet as I remember
QL formats to be. :-)
Reformatting the first one again using SBasic or QPAC2 results in a
noise 1.44MB Format.
</quote>
Dilwyn
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I reported this over a year ago. I use a USB floppy disk drive, under
Windows 7 (64 bit).
If I put a DD QL disk into the drive and then start QPC2, I can
(sometimes) see the directory on the disk.
Normally copying files to QPC2 fails
If I try formatting the disk from QPC2, the disk starts up for about .5
seconds and then stops, QPC2 waits about 20 seconds or so, then reports
'FORMAT failed' after which the disk is accessed again for a short period.
However, if I insert the QL disk and then go to DOS and enter:
FORMAT a: /t:80 /n:9
This formats the disk to PC DD format.
Start up QPC2 and you can then format the disk to QL format. You can
even swap disks and they work more often than before (although it is
still very unreliable on any but the original disk).
Q-emuLator seems better suited and can normally read and format QL disks
- although this too fails in 1 out of 10 attempts.
Both programs struggle even more if the disk has not been formatted to
the full 720K (eg. the QJUMP disks)
I have not tried QL formatted HD disks...
--
Rich Mellor
RWAP Services
Specialist Enuuk Auction Programming Services
www.rwapservices.co.uk
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