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First post, by ptyku

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Hi. I have a magneto-optical drive and I have a problem reading from a floppy disk. The drive is visible in the Adaptec AHA 2940uw controller bios and in the Windows 98 operating system. After inserting the floppy disk into the drive, I cannot format it in Win98 and in the controller I have the information as in the screenshot.

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Reply 1 of 7, by Deunan

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Are you sure that kind of drive/media even supports low-level format? It might not, or possibly it requires a different procedure.

The obvious things are termination on the drive and the DIP switch settings - make sure these are set for IBM PC and I would set the terminator power to drive only. It might just be using diodes since the quick setup manual says the factory default is to provide terminator power from both the drive and cable/host - but on most SCSI devices that is a bad idea. I'd pick either but not both and for a drive that lives inside the PC on the same PSU as the mobo it would be best to use drive power.

Lastly the manual says the "floppy" must be partitioned for DOS. I'm going to assume it's visible to the system as removable HDD, therefore the same would apply to any Win9x. There's a software tool for that, but it's not required if the media comes pre-formatted (for IBM PC). Does is say anything about that on the box?

Reply 2 of 7, by ptyku

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There is no information about formatting on the media packaging. The Dip Switch is set to IBM (I have instructions that helped with the settings) and a terminator is installed. Hmm, maybe I really need to look for a formatting tool or just a proven diskette for the PC (I only have this one).. thanks for the tips...

Reply 4 of 7, by ptyku

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I'll try with Win XP, but I saw a video on YouTube with this drive and Windows 98 and theoretically after inserting empty diskette a message should appear about the need to format the diskette and it formats like a regular diskette, only the size is different 😉

Reply 5 of 7, by PC Hoarder Patrol

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ptyku wrote on 2025-01-14, 21:47:

I'll try with Win XP, but I saw a video on YouTube with this drive and Windows 98 and theoretically after inserting empty diskette a message should appear about the need to format the diskette and it formats like a regular diskette, only the size is different 😉

FYI...

"All Verbatim optical disks are low level formatted at the manufacturing site. So an ISO standard drive immediately recognizes the disk. Some Verbatim optical disks are high level formatted at the manufacturing site. These are the DOS and MAC formatted optical disks. A DOS or MAC operating system will immediately recognize these disks. Other Verbatim optical disks are shipped without a high level format. These disks can be used on any operating system. But the user must high level format these disks for their operating system."

Reply 6 of 7, by ptyku

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PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2025-01-14, 23:56:

FYI...

"All Verbatim optical disks are low level formatted at the manufacturing site. So an ISO standard drive immediately recognizes the disk. Some Verbatim optical disks are high level formatted at the manufacturing site. These are the DOS and MAC formatted optical disks. A DOS or MAC operating system will immediately recognize these disks. Other Verbatim optical disks are shipped without a high level format. These disks can be used on any operating system. But the user must high level format these disks for their operating system."

High Level Format, i Think is the problem.. but software or hardware couse? I don't know 🙁

Reply 7 of 7, by PC Hoarder Patrol

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ptyku wrote on 2025-01-15, 19:38:
PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2025-01-14, 23:56:

FYI...

"All Verbatim optical disks are low level formatted at the manufacturing site. So an ISO standard drive immediately recognizes the disk. Some Verbatim optical disks are high level formatted at the manufacturing site. These are the DOS and MAC formatted optical disks. A DOS or MAC operating system will immediately recognize these disks. Other Verbatim optical disks are shipped without a high level format. These disks can be used on any operating system. But the user must high level format these disks for their operating system."

High Level Format, i Think is the problem.. but software or hardware couse? I don't know 🙁

If you're still having issues, try the driver / utility pack I previously used with my SCSI MO drive (same as yours, an M2512A) - does include a MO formatter amongst other apps...

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Filename
w9x602us.exe
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File license
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