Re: Continuing Annoyances...
[...]
>>So there's no way to format diskettes on a PowerMac system? That
>>seems wrong....
>
>is there any reason to not just do:
>
>dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 count=2880
IIRC this won't actually format the disk, it'll just zero all the data in an
existing format. I don't think this would work on a genuinely blank disk, i.e.
a new unused (and not preformatted) one.
Formatting involves writing all the sector headers and various other hidden
data. This is a special process, which is why formatting takes so long. Merely
writing data won't do it.
Try using MacOS to format an 800kB disk and then do the above on it. It should
fail (1440kB won't physically fit on an 800kB format). If it works, I'll be...
confused.
--
+- David Given ---------------McQ-+ "Hydrogen fusion, the sun makes shine
| Work: dg@tao-group.com | Vascular pressure makes the ivy twine.
| Play: dgiven@iname.com | Because of Rayleigh, the sky's so blue.
+- http://wired.st-and.ac.uk/~dg -+ Hormonal fixation is why I love you."
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