What utility do YOU use to format bootable ProDOS disks?

[JamesD]

The boot CF card from my CFFA 2.0 card has become unbootable due to my own stupidity.
I need to rebuild it and need to know what utilities I can use for this.

Edited September 21, 2017 by JamesD

[david__schmidt]

How hard did you wipe it? If the ProDOS filesystem and boot sector are still intact, just copying PRODOS to it is about all you need. If the filesystem is intact and size information is still there but everything else is gone, a dumb formatter like ADTPro can smooth it over (but for arbitrary disk sizes, it needs to be able to ask the OS what size it should be). If all else fails, a ProDOS utilities disk has the formatter of choice.

[Iamgroot]

You probably don't need any utilities if you are handy with ML. This little piece of code can load any blocks to see what information is still there.

 

300:20 00 BF

303:80 ; read a block - change to $81 to write block back to disk

304:10 03 ; parameter table at $310

306:60

 

 

310:03

311:70 ; device # times $10 - if device in slot #2 then add $80

312:00 20 ; load block buffer address $2000

314:02 00 ; block #

 

 

change the device # @$311 to your slot # times $10 and change block # to read and write at $314.315

This example loads the block information to the buffer at $2000.21FF

 

You can load and view any block on your devices using this method, make changes if you understand the directory structure, and you don't need any utilities. It's very short and sweet to type in.

 

If you need help reading the directory structure, you can post block #2 as a hex dump here.

[JamesD]

I think I was trying to upgrade the version of ProDOS. That's been 3 years though so it's hard to say.
So files were probably overwritten.
It did live through a fire though so I'm kinda rebuilding it from scratch to be safe at this point.

[david__schmidt]

Simplest is probably just to use ProDOS utilities and format the volume. In terms of "installation," all you really need to do is copy the files from (say) a 2.4.1 disk.

[JamesD]

I got smart and downloaded the disk image of the original boot volume from the CFFA site.
No joy. I think this was a multi-partitioned drive and I need to set up the first partition again.
Now I just need to look for a ProDOS floppy to boot with so I can use the utilities.

[david__schmidt]

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/masters/prodos/ProDOS_2_4_1.dsk

is the ProDOS you are looking for.

 

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/masters/prodos/Apple%20II%20System%20Utilities%20v3.2%20(ProDOS8%20v1.9%201990).dsk

is a utilities disk.

Edited September 22, 2017 by david__schmidt

[JamesD]

I already have that. But it's just a disk image and I need to boot the real hardware.

I had been running off of the CFFA.
The problem may be that the CF card is damaged.

[Iamgroot]

I have heard that a CF card only has a finite number of writes, then it may stop working. I don't remember the exact number that was quoted, but it could be that your card expired before its time.

 

I wrote a block editor based on the CFFA v2.0 that taps into its firmware. You could try writing a block over to your damaged card multiple times to see if its possible to revive it.

 

Let me know if interested, I can upload it here.

[Keatah]

Finite life & number of writes, absolutely. Too many variables to say exactly how long the life would be. Papers and whole books have been written on this topic.

[david__schmidt]

I already have that. But it's just a disk image and I need to boot the real hardware.

I had been running off of the CFFA.

Can't you boot from a floppy disk in the mean time? That's what you need to do.

 

The problem may be that the CF card is damaged.

That is almost certainly not the case.

[JamesD]

Can't you boot from a floppy disk in the mean time? That's what you need to do.

 

That is almost certainly not the case.

Hence why I said I need to find a boot floppy. I'll probably have to hook up my DISK II controller to my IIgs board, boot it and create a boot disk.

 

The CFFA 2.0 board and CF card were exposed to a fire that melted aluminum just 4 feed away from the rubble they landed in.

While I have my doubts that the CF card is bad, I cannot rule that out.

I think it's just a few bad bits, but I thought writing over it would have fixed it.

I also found some bad sectors on my other CF card I use in the CFFA3000 last night.

 

[potatohead]

I have the CFFA 3000, and boot from USB all the time.

 

Is it possible to just boot with a disk image via USB drive and use that to deal with the CF card?

 

Honestly, I've never even used a CF card! I saw the ability to use USB drives, added a little extension cable, and just work that way. It's too easy to drop disk images on the USB, potentially make them or edit them with ciderpress, and just move the USB drive between PC and Apple.

[Polymorph]

I have the CFFA 3000, and boot from USB all the time.

 

Is it possible to just boot with a disk image via USB drive and use that to deal with the CF card?

 

Honestly, I've never even used a CF card! I saw the ability to use USB drives, added a little extension cable, and just work that way. It's too easy to drop disk images on the USB, potentially make them or edit them with ciderpress, and just move the USB drive between PC and Apple.

 

While that maybe true for the CFFA 3000, the original CFFA design (including v2) does not have USB - only CF.