[GoofyFBI]

Hi, this is my very first post!!!

I don't know if I'm the only one annoyed by this 'cause I haven't seen anything around 'till now. But, I can't manage to format a ZIP disk in PC format under OS X. Is there someone here that can briefly explain me how to do?

My tries are:
. On Mac OS X, in Disk Utility, I can't choose PC format!
. On Mac OS 9, either with Iomega Tools, or in the Finder, I can't choose PC format if the ZIP isn't already PC-formatted!
. On Windows, I can format my HFS-formatted ZIPs to a format but my tries always gave bad results (some files unreadable, some ZIPs unrecognized under X, some other ZIPs which make crash OS 9's Finder, etc.)

So:
0) Is it possible in X.1.x ?
1) How do you do?
2) Which format to choose from the Windows side (FAT32, NTFS, etc.) ?
3) Any advice ???

Thanks a billion times.

[Jelle Monkmater]

0) Is it possible in X.1.x ?
1) How do you do?
2) Which format to choose from the Windows side (FAT32, NTFS, etc.) ?
3) Any advice ???

0) I don't think so. HFS+ and UNIX are the choices I have.
1) I'm fine, thanks. How are you But have you tried the Iomega site? They may have some info for you.
2) FAT32 would be my guess, though I'm not even sure it matters - your Mac should be able to read it normally (though your experiences seem to differ).
3) Don't format for Mac. Simply use PC (pre)formatted ZIP disks and trash the files you don't want anymore. That's what I do.

[Kestral]

While we're on the subject, how does one format a floppy in PC format in OS X? Can't seem to find the menu selection.

[Earth Mk. II]

Originally posted by GoofyFBI:
<STRONG> 0) Is it possible in X.1.x ?
1) How do you do?
2) Which format to choose from the Windows side (FAT32, NTFS, etc.) ?
3) Any advice ???

Thanks a billion times.</STRONG>

0) I've done it (not very helpful, I know - but it is possible)
1) In 10.1.x:
-- a) insert the Zip
-- b) go to "Disk utility"
-- c) click the "Erase" tab
-- d) select "MS-DOS File System" for the Volume Format
-- e) enter desired volume name or none at all
-- f) click the "erase" button
2) FAT. Just FAT if possible (better for smaller drives)
3) Make sure you use the "Erase" tab and not the "Partition" one.

[edit: formatting]

[ 12-07-2001: Message edited by: Earth Mk. II ]

[GoofyFBI]

Thanks for your replies, but...

&gt; -- d) select "MS-DOS File System" for the Volume Format
I guess you can see this choice 'cause the ZIP you inserted was already DOS-formatted! I might be wrong but this behaviour is what I met on OS 9 for a while...

Just do the test to format this same ZIP as HFS, then try to give it the MS-DOS format... I hope you're right and that I'm wrong, but I checked every single option in Disk Utility under X, and no possibility for MS-DOS format was found.

Bouhouhouou...

[Earth Mk. II]

I'm quite sure it's there for HFS and HFS+ disks.

What's your system setup? OS 10.0.x or OS 10.1.x, Zip100 or 250, internal or external, etc...

I've got a Dual G4@450 (G-bit ethernet), OS 10.1.1, Zip100 internal and it works fine.

(I think this functionality was only added in 10.1 though. If you have 10.1 and can't get it to work, I'd say write some feedback to apple.)