[Coco] Hard drive formatting

[Barry Nelson]

Most ScSI drives come already low level formatted so all that is needed is a high level format after you set the proper disk size/geometry with dmode. Of course you will first need to create an OS9 or NitrOS9 boot disk with the hard disk driver included, or at least load the driver and descriptor into memory. Then...
dmode /h0 cyl=# sid=# sct=# t0s=#
format /h0

Optional, if you created a boot disk including the hard disk driver, then you might do this...
cobbler /d0
^ To make a floppy with the dmode parameters stored permanently.

Wat type of SCSI controller do you have? How many cylinders, heads, and sectors per track does your hard disk have? Do you want to use the entire disk for OS9 or do you also want to have some BASIC virtual floppies? How much space o you want for OS9? If you tell me which SCSI controller you have, I can send you an HDBDOS rom image and a floppy disk image to soft load hdbdos that is configured for your controller with an offset for you OS9 system and I can try to create a floppy image of NitrOS9 with the proper driver loaded. The hdbdos is optional, but nice to have.

On Sep 7, 2015, at 1:03 PM, coco-request at maltedmedia.com wrote:

> Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2015 12:03:17 -0500
> From: George Ramsower <georgera at gvtc.com>
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Subject: [Coco]  Hard drive formatting
> Message-ID: <55EDC355.3070505 at gvtc.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
> 
>  Many years ago, had to format a SCSI hard drive for use on my 
> Coco(OS9). I seem to recall that all the info would be entered into the 
> program so it could  properly do that formatting.
>  I also understand that some drives will format themselves if properly 
> instructed.
> 
>  So, basically I'm asking as a newbie about how to format a SCSI hard 
> drive. I've found the specs on this unit and I can find specs on the 
> other two I have but I have no idea now, on how to do this.
> 
>  Suggestions, software and assistance/advice are needed at this time.
> 
> George R.