Formatting disk on rt11

From: Jerome Fine <jhfine_at_idirect.com>
Date: Fri Jun 4 19:50:42 1999

>CLASSICCMP_at_trailing-edge.com wrote:

> >"emanuel stiebler" <emu_at_ecubics.com> wrote:
> >How can I format a rd54 disk on a rt11 5.3 ?
> >(disk & floppy are on RQDX3 controller)
> You need the ZRQC?? formatter on bootable XXDP+ media for your machine.
> Do you have a RX50 floppy? RX33 floppy? TK50? RL02? RX02? I can
> get you the formatter on just about any media... (it *should* have shipped
> with your machine in the first place, but someone may have misplaced
> the disks at least once in the past decade or so.)

Jerome Fine replies:

Believe it or not, it is possible to FORMAT an RX33 floppy under RT-11!
Just a little side note which has nothing to do with the original question.
Also, you can't FORMAT an RX50 under RT-11 and it is much easier to
FORMAT the RX50 floppy on a PC. Shout if you want instructions how!

> >P.S. Booting from DU1: works, so the controller & driver should be OK.
> >Trying accesses to DU0: I see the LED of the disk drive on.
> What error message do you get when you try DIR DU0: ? If it's a
> "?DIR-F-Error reading directory", or a "?DIR-F-Input error", then you probably
> do need to low-level-format the drive. If you get a
> "?DIR-F-Invalid directory", then you probably only need to INIT DU0:
> to make it usable.

Since you refer to DU1:, it sounds like you have an RX50 dual floppy
disk drive. Are you booting V5.3 of RT-11 from the DU1:? If yes,
and a: "DIR/FULL DU1:" command yields of total of about 800 (786
to be exact) blocks of files and unused areas, then you have an RX50.
If the total is close to 2400 blocks, you are very fortunate to have an RX33.

Tim has stated most of the situation. The other command to try is:
"DUMP/TERMINAL DU0:"
If any blocks are dumped, then the drive is OK and only needs an INIT.

However, if an "?DUMP-F-Input error" results, the drive may need to
be FORMATed or the drive may be bad - you will not know until
you try the FORMAT.

Also, the total size of an RD54 is about 160 MBytes. Under RT-11,
you are able to see ONLY 32 MBytes in DU0: and the rest MUST
be made available via set commands. If you get the RD54 working
and need further help, please shout!! We love to help RT-11 novices.

Sincerely yours,

Jerome Fine
Received on Fri Jun 04 1999 - 19:50:42 BST