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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: jazzee on February 07, 2006, 06:00:51 PM

Title: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: jazzee on February 07, 2006, 06:00:51 PM
I used to have an Amiga 1200 back in the day.I sold it but kept all my disks (tunes).I have now bought an Amiga 500 and when i insert my disks i get "not a dos disk".I know just a little why it does this,it is because when i saved them to disk the disks were formatted a different way allowing extra space on the disk.Not a program cruncher just a disk which formatted so many k bigger.Anybody know what i mean? because i cant remember how i done it as it was that long ago but i am wanting to read the disks on the 500 i have.Is there a way to do this.

Thanks if anybody can help!

Jazz
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: KThunder on February 07, 2006, 06:07:03 PM
a1200 disks with os3.0 can be formatted with ffs and directory caching this allows 879kb  and faster disk directory access but is unreadable on amigas with preos3.0 software. older amigas use ofs format and no directory caching.
you could get them copyed over by someone, or upgrade the os to 3.1
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: kd7ota on February 07, 2006, 06:08:34 PM
Maybe your internal drive on the Amiga 1200 was High Density?  Probably not if you never opened it up before.  Usuaully one format works with all the Amigas. Unless you used some kind of utility to compress the disk or use something like Quarterback, then there shouldnt be a problem.

Also, maybe age and some kind of magnetic field ruined the disks?

Possibly.... Your disk drive in the Amiga 500 could have went bad or is bad...  :-)

Just my thoughts.
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: amigagr on February 07, 2006, 06:10:39 PM
if the disks that you format with a1200 are formated with the FastFileSystem (FFS) of amiga os 3.0 or 3.1 but your amiga 500 can only read disks formated with the OldFileSystem (OFS). you have 2 choises: 1)upgrade the a500 to 3.1 kickstart http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=157&osCsid=da48e2bad0562dbcf27d5d5614b948af
(gasp!) or 2) find a friend with an a1200 and convert them there.



-edit-
but how the ... can be done this trick with links?
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: jazzee on February 07, 2006, 06:26:32 PM
Wow,talk about quick response & you just got my brain cell working again.You are right about the ffs.I remember now & many thanks for the help! much appreciated.I know somebody with a 1200.Dumb question but how do i copy the stuff from the disks.I am totally totally braindead from back then yet i used to program on the thing! lol no joke & the good old spectrum too:)
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: amigagr on February 07, 2006, 06:35:37 PM
if the a1200 has a hard drive move the files of the floppys to the hard drive floppy by floppy,(keep somewhere the names of the disks to restor ok) format all the floppys with plain format (don't select FFS International mode and directory caching) and finaly move the files back to the new formated floppys... quite boring task.
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: jazzee on February 07, 2006, 06:45:52 PM
Thanks and i gotta say,..awesome forum! i have never known any so quick in responding.
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: amigagr on February 07, 2006, 06:49:38 PM
yeah, we moving faster than our shadow :-)
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: InTheSand on February 07, 2006, 09:13:52 PM
Another alternative is to ask your A1200-owning friend to download XFS (http://main.aminet.net/package.php?package=disk/misc/xfs.lha) and install it on to a bootable Workbench 1.3 disk (you'll need to remove some of the extras on the WB disk to allow XFS to fit). One of XFS's features is that it sets up an FFS disk handler, allowing 1.3-based Amigas to read/write such disks.

 - Ali
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: amigagr on February 07, 2006, 09:44:44 PM
@InTheSand: cool :-)


aminet seams not to working...  :-?
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: InTheSand on February 08, 2006, 12:07:13 AM
OK, so who broke Aminet?! :-)

You can find it on the German Aminet mirror (which appears to be a bit out of date, but still contains the last version of XFS) here: http://de.aminet.net

 - Ali

P.S. This is my first post on A.org using a REAL Amiga! (A3000, 68060, OS3.9, Sana2 network card). All those smileys take FOREVER to load in AWeb!
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: amigagr on February 08, 2006, 02:30:17 PM
Quote

InTheSand wrote:
P.S. This is my first post on A.org using a REAL Amiga! (A3000, 68060, OS3.9, Sana2 network card). All those smileys take FOREVER to load in AWeb!



good for you :-)  today arrive the pcmcia that i order from amikit and i hope that i'll serfing with my amiga too from tommorow :-)  and with the a3000 in a week, depents on the pci configuration of the prometheus that came too:-)
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: zefiro on February 08, 2006, 02:54:14 PM
I think the easyest way to do the OFS/FFS convertion is ReOrg.

You will find it on aminet, there is also a patch.

This is a part of readme:

"In addition to optimizing a disk, ReOrg can also convert
the filesystem of a disk during the optimization, e.g. from OFS to DC-FFS"

I hope this help, let me know.
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: jazzee on February 08, 2006, 07:22:15 PM
So do i just copy my workbench disk & delete some stuff off it then add that file then sorted?

Thanks 2 u all
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: zefiro on February 08, 2006, 07:53:30 PM
Some time ago I do something like that, ReOrg works "on the fly", I don't remember about mem requirement. Just try to be sure.
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: amigagr on February 08, 2006, 08:08:49 PM
Quote

zefiro wrote:
"In addition to optimizing a disk, ReOrg can also convert
the filesystem of a disk during the optimization, e.g. from OFS to DC-FFS"


i hope that it's not destroing data too...
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: zefiro on February 08, 2006, 08:17:30 PM
Just try on a backed up disk before try on originals one.
I used ReOrg regularly times ago for disks and harddrives
without problems.
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: jazzee on February 10, 2006, 10:20:13 PM
I cannot believe this.I borrowed a 1200 & got all set ready for doing the stuff then i see there is no workbench disk with the 1200 so i try with the workbench 1.3 and no good.Now i am stuck,i have a 500 a 1200 and a workbench 1.3 ,this just get better.Any suggestions?

Thanks again
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: alenppc on February 11, 2006, 03:14:22 AM
Quote

jazzee wrote:
I cannot believe this.I borrowed a 1200 & got all set ready for doing the stuff then i see there is no workbench disk with the 1200 so i try with the workbench 1.3 and no good.Now i am stuck,i have a 500 a 1200 and a workbench 1.3 ,this just get better.Any suggestions?

Thanks again


The disk you use to boot the A1200 shouldn't matter because the filesystem routines are in ROM, therefore you would be able to read FFS disks even if you boot with a 1.3 WB (it ain't windows... :)

It is likely that your floppies got damaged...

Also, Kickstart 2.x supports FFS, just not the Directory Cache mode which means that a 37.175 or better ROM chip would enable your A500 to read the disks as well...
Title: Re: Cant get my old Amiga 1200 Disks to read on Amiga 500
Post by: jazzee on February 11, 2006, 04:39:40 PM
All sorted.

Thanks for all the help