This is a PRERELEASE of FormatZIP - a utility to format Iomega ZIP
drives for MSDOS PCs. This is impossible with the usual format command
of AmigaOS because with the usual format command you would theoretically
create a ZIP disk in floppy disk format. The ZIP disks used on PCs are
in "harddisk format" with one single partition and CrossDOSFilesystem
cannot create this partition table.
FormatZIP was compiled with GCC for Amiga - sources are included
FormatZIP is distributed under the GNU Public License - see file COPYING
Usage :
FormatZIP <dosdevice>
<dosdevice> : This is the device name of the ZIP drive in PC format. On my
machine this is ZPC0C (using the supplied mount-list entry).
You can specify the dos device with or without an column.
Example:
FormatZIP ZPC0C: - format ZIP disk in ZPC0C:
CAUTION : If you select the wrong device your harddisk will become an
EMPTY!!!!!! ZIP :-) I am NOT responsible for unrecoverable
loss of data!!!
NOTE : FormatZIP creates a single harddisk partition on a harddisk type
ZIP disk. This is the format which is used for pre-formatted
ZIP medias. You can read this type of media with the
CrossDOSFilesystem if the last letter of your DOS device name
is a "C" (e.g. ZPC0C , ZIP0C, ZPC). Use the supplied mount
entry to use FormatZIP.
Future :
- lock all DOS devices of this ZIP drive while formatting
(this will cause a diskchange afterwards on all devices assigned to this
ZIP drive)
- Don't hardcode the drive geometry - this would make this tool usable
for Jaz drives, too. For this I'll need information about MSDOS
MBR
- using CrossDOSFileSystem for formatting of the partition.
Problem : V2.1 CrossFS is buggy
Solution : Use CrossFS for OS 3.0+ - use workaround for OS 2.1
workaround might not be able to support Jaz
Author :
Please EMail bug reports & suggestions to:
Alexander Feigl <Alexander.Feigl@gmx.de>
Changes since V0.2:
- using DOS device names now - new command line syntax
- Format ZIP asks for a confirmation before formatting the ZIP
- More modularited source code
- Does lock ZIP CrossDOS-handler while formatting
- Does cause an disk change
- FormatZIP now distributed under GNU Public License
Changes since V0.1:
- small bugfix : program terminated before writing bootblock and
directory
- mount entry included in distribution
|
aminet net>