Writing ADF files, gives a NDOS disk?? Help!

[brostenen]

All right.... I recently (somewere in 2017) bought an a600, wich is my first Amiga since I sold my GVP TurboJaws 030-50 upgraded 1200 around 2006.

Of course I am struggeling to relearn everything I knew at the tip of my tounge back then, plus learning things that are new to me. With a bit of irony, as Amiga is old news... :lol: Anyway...

I wanted to relearn how to backup disks to adf files, and how to write new ones. Yeah... So I have tried three different programs/tools for that. My a600 is somewhat factory stock, somewhat yet still higher specs, as I have no acc card and only upgraded kick from 37.300 to 37.350 and finally installed a 512mb CF card as the HDD.

As I wrote... I have used three different programs to test ADF writing out.

 - ADF Blitzer
 - ADF2Disk
 - TransADF (the non gui version)

And I have tested a couple of ADF files that I have gotten from the internet. Backing up disks to ADF went smooth, as well as doing a disk to disk backup. No problem there.

The thing this entire long post is about, is that basically some ADF files, when written to disk. Results in a so called NDOS disk. And during boot, the computer will report that it is a "non dos disk" or something like that.

Does anyone know what this issue is, and how to avoid this? As I understand it, then ADF files is a direct dump/image of a floppy disk, so why does it go and create a non readably disk instead of reproducing the correct floppy content? :confused:

[AndyFC]

Hi and welcome back to the Amiga.

If the ADF images are originally of non DOS disks, the images written back will create non DOS disks too. This just means they can't be read by the file systems loaded in Workbench.

Try rebooting with a floppy disk in the drive. The disk should be read before the hard drive and boot up.

[brostenen]

Hi and welcome back to the Amiga.

If the ADF images are originally of non DOS disks, the images written back will create non DOS disks too. This just means they can't be read by the file systems loaded in Workbench.

Try rebooting with a floppy disk in the drive. The disk should be read before the hard drive and boot up.

Ahh... I see.
Then what about disks that should be bootable, yet the amiga reports "not dos disk" or something? Does that have to do with som custom floppy format that for some reason breaks when written back?

I have had that experience with some of my disks after making an ADF file, yet a working backup was made, using d-copy.

The filesystem and diskformats are something I still have not understood 100%

It is good to be back. Indeed.
I have managed to build my self a good collection of x86 pc hardware, so now my focus have switched to other systems that I have used through my life. Been at this whole computer thing, since around 1984, so I am not a newcomer to computers in general. It's just, that something, sometimes get out of focus for years on end. Like the Amiga. So it is great to have diversity in my collection yet again. :-)

[vince_6]

What kind of disks are you using, 1.44MB?

[brostenen]

What kind of disks are you using, 1.44MB?

I am using 1.44 megabyte disks with the hole covered up. Before writing anything, I am formatting them to 880kb in DF0.

EDIT:
Found 880k disks in the closet. Same result.

[vince_6]

There's no need to format them.
Have you tried to make a working disk adf and remake it a disk?

[brostenen]

There's no need to format them.
Have you tried to make a working disk adf and remake it a disk?

I tested it with a disk called "Relokick 1.3", and the first time it went well, then I did a testwrite with the first adf disk file from Syndicate, just to see if it can do it. It failed. Out of curiosity, I tried the kick-disk-adf that I created yet one time more. And this time it failed.

I thought that the drive might be dirty, so I cleaned the heads of the external drives and set to write with both ADF-Blitzer and TransADF. This time it failed to do a write a good disk yet again.

I thought that it might not be the drives them self, so I did a direct copy of the Relokick, using D-Copy this time. From DF0 to DF1 and then from DF1 to DF0. Did this 4 times in a row, just to see if I could get it to fail, in order to check the state of my drives. And every time it would finish succesfull.

Now I am actually kind of worried... Big time...
If I do a backup of disks using D-Copy it will do it successfully.
If I do a backup of disks, using ADF-Blitzer it will fail to rewrite the disk.
If I write a random ADF file from the internet, it will fail to write the disk.

Kind of worried here... Is it the CF card going bad or the mem upgrade or something? The more I dig, the more I get worried. The fun thing is that I can still play games, like Lotus-II or Pinball Fantasies, without issues.

[vince_6]

You can try a virus z scan.
Also if you had enough ram you could copy the adf there and try that too.

[brostenen]

You can try a virus z scan.
Also if you had enough ram you could copy the adf there and try that too.

Allrighty then... Some 24 hours later...

I had some problems finding a correct antivirus, working on Kick 37.350/WB 2.10 combination in stock installation. There were no virus found at all.

Then as I tested further, DF0 started to crap out on me, and I tried to clean the heads with some alcohol and cue-tips. This made the drive crap out even further, and I had to modefy another drive in order to make it fit inside my 600. Untill further it is looking fine and dandy, I just need to do some tests in order to see if this solved my issue.

Did not sleep untill some 8am, so I am really busted right now.

EDIT:
It was all drive related... Issue solved for now. As such. The replacement drive can create ADF files, and I can write ADF files to a floppy. I even tested Syndicate Disk 1, that I got from the internet, just to see if that can be done. Did not see any reason to download the whole game, as I only needed to test if it can write a bootable ADF back to floppy. (I know it was basically piracy, yet I had to check if it would work)
Now it only has a slight issue, in were the pins that detects a disk, sometimes think that a disk is inserted. I have an idea, that the pins does not fully come all the way up or they sink down because or wear. The Amiga is working, only the drive being the issue. Now I have to source a new drive, and mod a working PC drive for the external box.

I am happy, that this is not virus related. And I am really happy, that the machine it self are working. It is after all a recapped one, were tantilum caps were used. I simply do not have money for a new machine, or any other Amiga for that matter. So a dead or defect Amiga would be a disaster.