CompuServe Thread

#AmigaDOS to IBMDOS Convn

7 messages in this thread
#116856From: Sheila KenneyAug 15, 1990 11:44 AM
Thomas, Thanks! It sounds like what you're saying is *not* to use a formatted IBM DOS disk. Just take a disk that was formatted on the Amiga with Amiga software to format it as an MSDOS disk. Then bring that disk to work, download an Amiga file, take it back home, and the Amiga will then read it. I'll try. Thanks again! Shiela 🙂
#116903From: Thomas HoladayAug 15, 1990 7:46 PM
Sheila, that's what I'm saying. I had a devil of a time this afternoon trying to get one IBM to read another IBM's floppy disk, because one of the machines had a Super High Density 1.44 MByte 3 1/2" drive, and the other had the High Density 720K 3 1/2" drive. If I'm having that sort of difficulty between IBM machines, I shudder when thinking about IBM to Amiga. Pray that your machine at work has a 720K floppy drive (not the 1.44). Those are guaranteed to work.
#116958From: Peter SmithemAug 16, 1990 10:05 AM
I do transfers from the 1.44 Meg drive on my Compaq at work to my 2000 almost every day with no problems at all. Unlike the 360K vs 1.2M 5.25 inch problems due to the different track widths, the 720K and 1.44M 3.5 inchers differ only in the data rate used to write the bits on the disk (250KBS vs 500KBS). The only time you should have any problems is if one of the drives is out of alignment (or if you forget to tell the 1.44M drive to format at 720K ;^). Peter_S (LeCroy Corp) "Software means never having to say you're finished"
#116963From: Thomas HoladayAug 16, 1990 10:21 AM
I wonder if my problem is that the two IBM 3.5" drives are out of alignment. I'm going to try it again, then fall back to 1.2 MB.
#116978From: Matthew J. W. RatcliffAug 16, 1990 12:24 PM
This is really likely, these crappy non-standard clone systems seem to have chronic problems reading disks which were not formattted on that very drive. we have problems going between clones, between clones and amigas, and sometimes just with older disks on one machine arrgh… now I do everything twice..
#117020From: Bill ForcadeAug 16, 1990 11:31 PM
Peter: I have great difficulty transferring data from our office PS/2's to my A2088 with the external 3 1/2" Amiga drive, when I use the 1.44M diskettes from work formatted by the PS/2's at 720K; the A2088 rarely reads them. When I use Amiga disks from home (or buy non hi-density disks) and format them at 720K,all is well. I only have the one external Amiga 3 1/2" drive, but the problem showed up with hi-density disks formatted at 720K on several PS/2's at work.
#116995From: Bob RakoskyAug 16, 1990 6:51 PM
THol, Actually, transferring from a HD 3.5" drive on a PeeCee is not generally a problem (as long as a standard double-density disk is used), EXCEPT PeeCee is a TRUE-BLUE IBM machine. I'm not sure if the "new" PS/1 has the problem, but I found that using a PS/2-80, I could very rarely format and/or write a 720K diskette that I could read (either on my Amiga or on another PeeCee – even on the same PS/2). IBM must either use real junk for their floppy drives (to be consistent with the rest of the machine) or the PS/2's have real stringent timing things that make writing to double-density disks flakey. However, on my "brand-x" clone sitting here, I have _never_ had a problem with 720K disks in the HD drive, and I use that at least 10 times a day to transfer files to and from my Amiga. My partner has a similar machine, and likewise has never had a problem. Who said you can't get fired for buying IBM? Guess he didn't work for me. <grin> …BobR White Wolf Productions