Formatting 720KB Floppy under XP/Vista

[Harrison]

Are you using Double Density floppy disks? Or High Density (HD) 1.44MB Floppy Disks? If you are using the HD floppies then you will need to cover the additional hole with some tape before formatting the disk on a PC or it will cause issues. And HD floppies are not reliable when used in an Amiga anyway.

Otherwise I'm not sure why method 1 wouldn't work.

[alexg75]

Brilliant, I didn't know this existed! But it's just what I need.

Thanks for posting this.

Alex
(a brand new a1200 owner)

[Namida]

I managed to transfer the first files from PC to Amiga, thanks to all.
But now I need to transfer files (size is between 4 and 8MB), so I bought a PCMCIA CompactFlash adaptor with a 512MB CF card.

I managed to install fat95 (just one double-click !) and PCMCIA CF drivers from a 3.5" floppy.
When I insert the FAT16 formated CF card, the CF0 drive is correctly mounted.

But when I copy files to the CF card and try to read them from the PC, the CF is empty !!
A right click on the card tells me that some space is used, but files are nowhere.

I tried to copy files from the PC to the CF, and then read them on the Amiga : and how weird ! I cannot see them (although Work Bench tells me that available space has decreased).
Looks like the same CF space is shared between the PC and Amiga, but file directory is not the same.

Can someone understand that ?
I tried with another CF, and it was the same behavior.

I hope this post is not off topic !
Thanks for your imaginative help !
I really need some in order to dump games and send them to SPS.

[Harrison]

I've not tried using CF cards with an Amiga yet, but I'm guessing it is something to do with the different file systems between the two OSs.

Even though you can't see the Amiga files on the PC, are the Amiga files still there and accessible again when you reconnect the CF card to the Amiga?

If so then you could try accessing the CF card on the PC using the emulator WinUAE. In fact you could format the CF card on the Amiga as an Amiga HD, and then mount the CF card on the PC in WinUAE as an HD to access it. I can't see any reason why that wouldn't work.

And to copy the files so they can be accessed on the PC create a new directory on the PC and then set this as a directory based HD in WinUAE. You can then copy files from the CF card to the PC directory HD using Workbench loaded in WinUAE. And once copied you will be able to access the files from the PC directory.

[Namida]

I'll try this as soon as I am back home (in a few days).

I tried to format the CF under the Workbench, but all I could do is a quick format, not a complete one (it says that block 0 could not be read or something).

And yes I plug back the CF in the Amiga, I can see the files that was previously copied from the Amiga, even I copied files from the PC after.

Another interesting thing : I can choose a different name (label) for the CF under the Amiga and under the PC !

[Buleste]

The other one is have you tried using the latest version of CrossDOS? It may be that although you have FAT95 installed as the CF is not set as a CrossDOS device the Amiga is writing onto an Amiga formatted card whilst the PC is trying to write onto a PC formatted card and so the files cannot be read by the other machine. All you may need to do is copy the CF0 device open up an editor and load the copy and edit it so that the file system is set to crossdosfilesystem, change the file name from "Copy_of_CF0" to "DCF0" and reboot. Hopefully then when you insert a FAT16 or FAT32 formatted CF it should show up and be fully usable by both PC and Amiga.

[Harrison]

Can you hot swap CF cards in an Amiga? I was led to believe they are seen by the system as another HD and need to be swapped over before switching the system on.

I think a page about using CF cards on an Amiga is definitely needed on the Wiki. We can then include such information and answers to questions. Plus installation guides and FAQs.

[Buleste]

Can you hot swap CF cards in an Amiga? I was led to believe they are seen by the system as another HD and need to be swapped over before switching the system on.

"What you talkin' 'bout Willis?"

I was on about using the CF as a crossdos hard drive not hot swapping. That way both PC and Amiga will be able to use the CF.

[Harrison]

It was just a question I had. Not directly related to the formatting of the cards.

Would be great to utilise CF or SD cards are removable storage for the Amiga that can be hot swapped for file transfer.

Has anyone ever managed to get a multi format card reader working with an Amiga? Either an IDE or USB version. Obviously you would need drivers.

[Buleste]

Strictly speaking you could get the Card reader allowing hot swapping if it was recognised as removable media like ZIP or JAZ disks but it would be a hardware thing and as the card readers are mostly designed for internal use the hot swapping of the IDE versions would be impractical. It would be easier to do for PCMCIA versions though.