Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!xanth!rlb From: rlb@cs.odu.edu (Robert L. Bailey) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: formatting DS/DD to 720K Keywords: 720K floppy Message-ID: <9734@xanth.cs.odu.edu> Date: 13 Aug 89 03:38:43 GMT References: <35129@ccicpg.UUCP> Reply-To: rlb@cs.odu.edu (Robert L. Bailey) Organization: Old Dominion University, Norfolk Va. Lines: 28 In article <35129@ccicpg.UUCP> swonk@ccicpg.UUCP (Glen Swonk) writes: >I've seend many references to the fact that you >can format a DS/DD 5 1/2" floppy to 720K instead >of the normal 360K. Can someone explain how >one can set up their machine to do this. I >assume that one must have a high density drive. >Any comment on reliability and portability? > Check out your local BBS for a program called CONFMT. This is an excellent shareware program. It allows you to format standard DSDD diskettes to 720K. It works like a champ on many machines. There are some machines with brain dead BIOSs that will not recognize the disk after it is formatted. Fortuanately, mine does not have that problem. I have formatted hundreds of 5 1/4" disks to 720K with no problems. I use CHEAP (25 cent) disks. The few that have bad sectors have also shown the same problem when formatted to 360K. BTW, CONFMT is a TSR program. You can pop it up anytime and format disks in the background! I find this to be very handy. Who likes to sit and twiddle your thumbs while waiting for a disk to format! With CONFMT, I can make productive use of my time. I can edit or whatever while the disks are formatting. I just change disks when prompted by the pop up window. It supports all the standard DOS formats + a couple of non-std such as the 720K 5 1/4". If you can't find it locally, email me & I'll try to send to on the net. Bob Bailey