I was using ADT PRO and having trouble formatting disks that are IBM formatted. ADTpro won't let me do it. Always getting IO errors.
I used a magnet on a preformatted IBM disk and it seemed to work after that.
I tried init hello on a prodos version but it must have been too old, and I tried a newer DOS version and it complained I didn't have an enhanced IIe, as I only have a IIe non-enhanced.
Is there a way to format IBM formatted disks?
Can't say I have ever had an issue re-formatting preformatted IBM disks. I almost always use Copy II+ for this, but it shouldn't matter. Not sure if I ever used ADTPro to do it. But again, I can't think why that would matter.
Yeah I think ADTpro just uses some version of prodos to format but not sure what command it uses.
Are they 360K (DSDD) or 1.2M (DSHD) disks? The HD ones don't usually work very well with an Apple II which is SSSD. Even if they format they are not usually reliable. DSDD are fine.
Good point on the density. I just grabbed 3 DD disks that were pre formatted IBM that I'm fairly certain I have never used before. ADT had no issues formatting both sides of each disk (although the back may never have been formatted anything since these were single side I notched).
Density probably is the OPs issue as pointed out by softwarejanitor. Besides the label, you can also generally tell DD apart from HD by looking for a hub ring. DD always has a hub ring glued to the floppy. HD never does. Of course a hub ring could fall off a DD disk, as the glue has dried out over the years.
In post #1, HiSir wrote:
" I used a magnet on a preformatted IBM disk and it seemed to work after that. "
Uncle Bernie comments:
It also has been my experience that already formatted floppy disks who refuse to be reformatted can be salvaged by applying an electromagnet (a so-called 'magnetic tape bulk eraser'. These are AC transformers lacking the "I" piece of the core, so a powerful magnetic field can escape. Proper use is to circle them over the floppy disk(s) and then slowly increase distance while still circling. 4...5 seconds per floppy disk is enough, including the removal phase. Several floppy disks (5 or so) in a stack can be treated at the same time.
This was common practice back in the day.
The Apple II does not work with HD floppy disks.
But the issue we have now, 25+ years after the "death" of the floppy disk, is that the media itself deteriorates. Mold grows and "eats" the glue which holds the ferromagnetic dust to the mylar foil. (Never use floppy disks that have signs of mold, these are weird structures visible on the magnetic foil. The mold spores may cross infect infect your good floppy disks via the floppy disk R/W heads).
The lubricant evaporates so they don't turn well anymore. And the hub reinforcement ring falls off, because its glue also deteriorates. The irony is that these hub reinforcement rings were a kludge the floppy disk as such never needed - the culprit was a large floppy disk drive manufacturer who had misread the spec and had produced tens of millions of floppy disk drives with a clamping mechanism that was just a little bit to weak, so there was slip when the floppy disk started turning. The floppy disk media manufacturers fixed that by adding the reinforcement ring which now falls off more often than not. (At least this is how the story was told to me).
From time to time you can find NOS floppy disks which have been stored properly, no mold, and they still work.
- Uncle Bernie
I was using only DD disks, btw.
It seemed like the random Apple II formatted disks I got used that someone put games on would format just fine, but not the disks I tried that were IBM formatted. Except for the experiment where I put a magnet on it to attempt to 'clear' the IBM format,. Then it worked
Interesting note about the mold though, I didn't consider the fact about the spores infecting other disks.
Seemed to work fine when I used prodos 3, the version that requires an Apple //e enchanced. I installed my enhancement kit today.
Mould growth on old floppies is more common than you think. If there was any sort fo moisture in the air around the disk during storage (and most were stored in some basement or attic for decades) there will very likely be some form of mould growth.
Mouldy diskettes will cause accumulation of dirt on read/write heads and then that dirt will scrape away the magnetic layer on every subsequent disk that is put into the drive. You can tell ruined disk easily because there will be a concentric circle scratch on the diskette at track zero (on the outside circumference). Those disks are then completely ruined and can never be used again.
I treat every old diskette with suspicion and examine it closely under magnifying lights. If I suspect mould growth then that diskette gets one chance to be read (and immediately imaged).
But only after cleaning it. I slit the jacket, carefully remove the "cookie" and wash it in warm water and dish soap, carefully dry it on blotting paper towels and carefully reinsert the cookie in the sleeve jacket. This is not for the faint of heart. If you damage the media, kink it or bend it, it will be unreadable.
The next step is to image the diskette with ADTPro (or AppleSauce if the disk is copy-protected) and then throw that diekette in the trash immediately.
Even though the media cookie is now clean, mould still exists in the lining of the protective jacket and it will re-form on the media. Plus, as Uncle Bernie pointed out, the mould can deteriorate the protective coating on the media exposing the oxide layer beneath, which is very delicate.
Also, once I image the diskette I immediately clean the drive head before using it again.
I keep a disk drive with the cover removed just for imaging suspect disks.
Most disks can be copied onto new media. I've done this with non-copy protected disks and some copy protected disks. I've salvaged diskette labels on some disks that were important to me for aesthetics. Like the "Frogger" and "Crossfire" disks from Sierra-Online that I have as "collectibles". No they're not the originals anymore but they look the part and I can still use them.