# formatting floppies



## LouisStDubois (Apr 18, 2007)

I'm running DOS 3.3 on a Tandy 1000TX and have as the "A" drive a 5.25" 360kb floppy drive and as the "B" drive a generic 3.5" 720kb floppy drive. I'm sure I'm using the correct syntax on the format command [ format b: /f:720 ], however I keep getting a "invalid parameter". The problem is, when I try to format the B drive without the f switch it formats the 720kb 3.5" floppy as a 360kb floppy. Any help will be greatly appreciated. EWW


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

You're going way back in my memory, did DOS 3.3 support the /F:720 switch? I know later versions did.


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## LouisStDubois (Apr 18, 2007)

I'm not sure. It apparently knows something about what I'm trying to do, hence the "invalid parameter" message, and if I'm not mistaken it supported the 3.5" floppy format. The Tandy 1000TX came with a 3.5" floppy drive. It's only a 80286 so I'm apprehensive about trying any later versions of MSDOS though I've read that I can run PCDOS version 7.0 on it without locking it up or running out of memory. Thanks for your reply. EWW


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## ChuckE (Aug 30, 2004)

*Format /?* does not tell you what the various switches and options are?


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## LouisStDubois (Apr 18, 2007)

I tried that, but DOS 3.3 doesn't seem to have that capability, at least if it does, I don't seem to have the syntax down. I've tried the question mark switch before with no luck. Thanks for the reply. EWW


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I was going to say that I recall early MS-DOS versions didn't have help, I think that came along around the MS-DOS 4.1 or 5.0 timeframe.


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## ChuckE (Aug 30, 2004)

According to Microsoft, at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/75131, version 3.2, and up, support the /F:720 switch.

A 360k floppy would be the 5.25" floppy. The first 3.5" floppies were 720k, then they went to 1.44M and some were even 2.88 MB.

Might it be possible that your BIOS setting for the computer has that 3.5" floppy drive mis-identified as a 5.25" drive?


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## LouisStDubois (Apr 18, 2007)

I don't have the various DOS flavors with their capabilities, but was told that 3.3 didn't support the f switch. I believe that you're right in that it does. I don't have the documentation for the Tandy 1000 TX, but was told that the BIOS functions on it were a matter of jumpers. This machine came with a 3.5 by 720k floppy drive, but the Tandy 3.5 floppy drives were unusual in that they got their power through the data cable. I have encountered two methods for configuring the data cable to accomodate a generic drive. They are very similar, but one involves cutting the #2 & #3 wires as well as the others involved. I guess I'll try that, although I don't understand why I can read from the drive all right, but can't get the machine to recognize it as 720k for the purpose of formatting. The "invalid parameter" message is intriquing as it suggests that if I were to get the syntax right that would solve my problem. Thanks for your reply. Louis


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

If the BIOS thought it was a 5.25" floppy, it would be logical to get an invalid syntax error for that drive.


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## ChuckE (Aug 30, 2004)

According to a Tandy hackers website, re: Floppy Disks:
"..._In most 1000-series, the built-in controller cannot support high-density drives because the data separator will only run at 250k bps_..."

There is other useful information there, as well.


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## LouisStDubois (Apr 18, 2007)

Right! It was "invalid parameter". I only mentioned syntax as a re-affirmation of what was said about the f switch. I was told in another forum that 3.3 didn't support the f switch. This version seems to know about the f switch, but doesn't like what follows that or the form that I'm expressing. At least that's my take on it.


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## LouisStDubois (Apr 18, 2007)

It was the TVDog's instructions that I used to re-configure the data cable to accomodate the generic 3.5" drive that I'm using. The TX that I'm referring to came with a 3.5" double-density drive as the A drive. TVDog's instructions were to cut the #s 5, 7, 9, & 11 from the ribbon and strip them, join them, and graft them to the red or five volt wire on a generic floppy power cable. Then cut out the 29, 31, & 33 wires and graft them to the yellow or twelve volt wire of the same floppy plug. I stripped the two black middle wires of the plug and ran them to ground. In another info document A guy named Wayne Davis from Arizona says to cut the numbers two and three wires but he doesn't say what to do with them beyond that. To the best of my recollection 720k is double-density, not high density. Soooo, I'll try cutting numbers two and three and see what happens. If I don't connect them to anything I guess I can't goof anything up in any permanent sense. LOL Louis


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## IamError (May 1, 2007)

LouisStDubois said:


> It was the TVDog's instructions that I used to re-configure the data cable to accomodate the generic 3.5" drive that I'm using. The TX that I'm referring to came with a 3.5" double-density drive as the A drive. TVDog's instructions were to cut the #s 5, 7, 9, & 11 from the ribbon and strip them, join them, and graft them to the red or five volt wire on a generic floppy power cable. Then cut out the 29, 31, & 33 wires and graft them to the yellow or twelve volt wire of the same floppy plug. I stripped the two black middle wires of the plug and ran them to ground. In another info document A guy named Wayne Davis from Arizona says to cut the numbers two and three wires but he doesn't say what to do with them beyond that. To the best of my recollection 720k is double-density, not high density. Soooo, I'll try cutting numbers two and three and see what happens. If I don't connect them to anything I guess I can't goof anything up in any permanent sense. LOL Louis


Add this line in your CONFIG.SYS File... it should fix the problem.

DRIVPARM=/D:0 /F:2 /H:2 /S:9 /T:80

(For drive A: - drive B: is /D:1, etc.) If that doesn't work, try DRIVER.SYS instead:

DEVICE=DRIVER.SYS /D:0 /F:2 /H:2 /S:9 /T:80


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## ChuckE (Aug 30, 2004)

The CONFIG.SYS modifications were stated in the April 25 message I gave a link to (ref: Tandy hackers website, re: Floppy Disks). But *LouisStDubois* has not been responsive enough to let us know if he even read it. 
He seems more ready to start hardware modifications (cutting wires, etc.) than to try simple text file changes and a reboot.


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## IamError (May 1, 2007)

That's unfortunate because I was just working on the exact same problem that LouisStDubois was having, and the "DRIVPARM" command line, as previously stated, worked perfectly for my Tandy 1000TX. 

Well... we tried.


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