[Coco] FAT vs. FAT

[Joel Ewy]

Leon Howell wrote:
> Are you using a recent version of windows? If so, that might be your problem. 
> I've given up on trying to download software untill I get my CD drive to work. 
> My ms-dos junk gets almost nothing but errors trying to read files saved on a 
> windows pee see, using a disk formated on the dos junk.
>
> Apparently windows no longer uses the same format as dos. It's close enough to 
> read a dos disk, and dos can read a windows disk directory, but it usualy 
> can't read files.
>   
I've been using PORT and DSKINI on Win98 to transfer files, and I can
use 'dd' Linux.  It's not that I can't get it to work.  Just that the
process is a lot more complicated and tedious than it needs to be.

>From what I understand, there are two different issues involved with
using FAT floppy disks in MS-Windows.
1.  Windows versions based on NT (NT, 2K, XP, presumably Vista as well)
support an NTFS in addition to the old FAT file system.  It may be that
their implementation of FAT is less than perfect, but I'm not aware of
that being the case.
2.  Recent versions of Windows may prevent programs like PORT and DSKINI
from accessing the floppy hardware directly.  But this is a
floppy-writing issue, not a file system issue per se.

JCE