[Cipher13]

The title says it all... how?
The option has been removed. Drive setup won't allow it, nor will the Finder (Special -> Erase disk).

I've got all the disk utils (TechTool Pro, DiskWarrior, etc), is there an easy way I can format this drive DOS?

Another feature 'Steved'... what a dick.


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[Cipher13]

Nevermind. Got it. Thanks reader.

That woulda taken 10 seconds and zero disk space if Steve wasn't such a dick rather than an hour and a gig and a half. Ugh.


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[Jsnuff1]

how did you do it?

[spicyjeff]

Whoa there Cipher, why the heck would you want to format an IDE drive Fat16 from Mac OS anyways?

And it wasn't Steve'd. It was simply seen an not really needed anymore in the menu, and I tend to agree. In OS 9 with the Disk Utility you have more formatting options than any Mac OS ever.

[Agent69]

I don't know about you but I liked being able to format Zip drives as fat.


Agent69

[reader50]

Here is how we did it.

1a. If you have a full drive to format, use Drive Setup. Do a custom partition format. Drop down the size of the target partition by 1 MB. This is because the default figure is rounded to the available drive space, it will have several KB that do not show. And you need an exact MB size. The format choice (HFS, HFS+, etc) for the target partition does not matter, you will overwrite it later anyway.

1b. If you want to DOS format an existing partition, but leave the rest of a drive alone: You will need a utility that can give the exact size of an existing partition. TechTool Pro will give the exact parititon size in the Optimization pane. Multiply block count by block size and you will have the exact partition size. I'm not sure what other utilities will give this info. Apple System Profiler gives rounded figures in GB or MB, you will need an exact figure.

2. Use DiskCopy to make a disk image of the exact same size in MBs or KBs. This operation will fail if the disk image is not the exact same size as the target partition. The disk image file must be stored on a different partition from the target partition. While setting up the disk image, Disk Copy will ask you to choose the format option. DOS will be offered, choose it.

3. Use the ShrinkWrap demo to "copy image back to disk". Open the DOS image file, copy it over the target partition. Disk Copy does file copies, and would not change the format data of the target partition. ShrinkWrap does a byte copy, the format & all other data will be pasted across.

4. Presto. You now have a DOS partition. You can trash the disk image file now too, it isn't needed any more.

Note: This method will work for partitions up to 2 GB in size. DiskCopy images are limited to 2GB, so that is the limiting factor.

[This message has been edited by reader50 (edited 04-16-2001).]

[reader50]

There is a better way. I found that the DOS format option is still there in the Finder, you just have to search a bit. If a disk is unreadable at bootup, the DOS format option is offered.



To get this option, simply hose the target partition. Install your least favorite M$ software on that partition, or whatever. Perhaps do a force-quit of the Finder while it is formatting the partition. On the next Finder boot, you will get the easy DOS format option.

[Cipher13]

Spicy: We'll be the judge of whether its useful or not. Does it hurt to keep it there? No.

It was Steved. Just like so many other things.

And how do we get more options than ever? I couldn't even format in dos!
Hahaha, if you're talking about being able to format in A/UX and whatnot, thats been possible for ages!

Argh.

Hehe, Reader, nice discovery

See, it was Steved - the feature is there, but inaccessible except for a method they forgot about. Heh.


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