format PC floppy to use on Amiga?

[nbache]

The DOS diskette size you want is not 880 kB (that is the size of an Amiga formatted floppy), but 720 kB, i.e. half of the HD 1,44 MB size.

You might be able to trick the PC by covering the size hole in the diskette with tape, so it thinks it's a DD diskette, or maybe you can use format from the command line and specify the /F:size argument - try typing "format /?" in a command line under Windows to get the exact arguments possible.

Otherwise I think you should be able to format a 720 kB diskette on the Amiga if you have CrossDOS running and a suitable mount file for a PC DD floppy. But I'm grasping at vague memories now ...

Best regards,

Niels

[nbache]

I guess I'll have to remember how to search the A1200 for the cross-dos devices.  Even the words 'CLI' and 'Device List' are ancient foggy memories I'm struggling to resurrect... I guess that's part o' the fun?

Indeed.

CLI: Command Line Interface, what you get when you double-click the Shell icon in the System drawer of your main disk (Workbench or whatever it is called on your machine).

Once you are in the CLI, at the prompt, you can e.g. type "info" and hit Enter. This will show, among other things, the devices you have mounted. If PC0 is one of them, you are okay, then you should get a PC0 icon on your Workbench if you insert a PC-formatted DD (i.e. 720 kB) diskette.

Apart from that, follow AndyFC's advice above about checking inside Devs/DOSDrivers (i.e. open the Devs drawer in your Workbench disk, then open the DOSDrivers drawer inside that.) - if you don't have a PC0 icon in there, you may have it in Storage/DOSDrivers, then just drag it from there into Devs/DOSDrivers, and afterwards do a reset.

Best regards,

Niels

[nbache]

Okay, so you have the PC0: device mounted. If you insert a diskette into the drive, do you get an icon for it on Workbench? Possibly with some strange NDOS or question marks name or similar? If you do, click once on it, then use the right mouse button to drop down the WB menu "Icon" and select the "Format disk" item from it. That should give you a dialog offering to format the diskette.

Of course, it's also possible that the diskette drive is not working correctly after years of storage. It might be worth a shot to clean it.

Best regards,

Niels