On 2/8/06 6:44 PM, "Darren" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Good info from Bob, its the only real > way to do anything with a non mac- > formatted floppy and perfect for > cleaning the heads.
Well, it's "a partial solution," but it is by no means "perfect." First of all, if you lack an external 400k drive, you're out of luck. I booted off a System 1.1g floppy in my 400k external. I then inserted the cleaning disk in my internal drive. I was presented with an INITIALIZE dialog. I clicked Initialize and 2 seconds later my disk was spat out. Obviously, this is not the way to do it. But the fact is that if you only have the internal drive, you cannot erase the startup disk! Next, I inserted a good disk into the internal drive, selected it, and choose "Erase Disk..." A dialog appeared asking me to confirm. I then used a paper-clip to manually eject the disk in the internal drive. I then inserted my cleaning disk and clicked Initialize. This spins the disk for all of 9 seconds and then spinning stops with the cleaning disk stuck inside the machine. You must manually eject the cleaning disk with the paper clip. Putting it back in doesn't cause the motor to spin again. A good cleaning should be 20-30 seconds, not 9 seconds. Therefore, you need to reboot the machine and repeat the process 3 times. This is by no means user-friendly. And by the 3rd reboot, your cleaning liquid is all but evaporated. Since the Mac was designed as a "user-friendly" machine, and since most software was designed around that very user-friendly interface, I can only assume by logical deduction that someone somewhere must have written a tiny utility to keep a cleaning disk spinning! Did every single Mac 128 and 512 user actually have an external drive or use paper clips to clean the heads? I cannot imagine that none of these early Mac users never cleaned the heads. Did they all pay dealers $50 an hour to do the job? I don't think so. I do recall floppy disk cleaning kits on the market in early 1985. And so, while the disk initialize "hack" works with some effort, I still would appreciate hearing if any of you know of an old app that will do the job in a more user-friendly manner. And as I said before, I am well aware of System 7 apps that do this, but System 7 won't run on the Mac 512 or 128. Many thanks, James Wages -- System6 is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... 123Inkjets.com <http://lowendmac.com/ad/123inkjets.html> Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> System 6 Heaven <http://www.euronet.nl/users/mvdk/system_6_heaven.html> System6 info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/system6.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:system6@mail.maclaunch.com> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/system6%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deals www.1800ipod.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
