ADF Hell

[Jherek Carnelia]

When I try to create disks from adf files I just end up with NDOS disks. I have tried AdfBlitzer and also Adf2disk; both give me the same results. I managed to create one disk, but it won't work again!

The adf files are not of bootable disks, i.e Eye of the Beholder, and HiSoft Pascal.
I am using PC2Amiga to transfer the files from my PC to an A1200 with2 meg RAM and a harddrive.

The adf files can be read in WinUAE and I can transfer the disk contents as a series of files which I can use to install them on the A1200 - so the adfs seem to be ok.

I don't know what to try next! Are my floppies at fault? Or my floppy drive? Or is it me??

[RetroMan]

Well, I haven´t used AdfBlitzer neither Adf2Disk yet, I only use Transdisk, but for me it helped to format the floppy on the Amiga before writing an ADF back, maybe you should try that first :)

[Jherek Carnelia]

Thanks Retro Man but I've tried formatting the disks first. I use a parallel cable so Transdisk won't help...:sad

[RetroMan]

Uhm .... bit of misunderstanding here ;) I also use PC2Amiga for the TRANSFER and Transdisk for putting the images back to disk on the Amiga itself ;)

[Overdoc]

Maybe you are using HD disks and your Amiga's diskdrive cannot write to them ?
Just an idea...
Better try to transfer one disk with Crossdos and 720k PC disks and then use Transdisk to write them back. Maybe there is something wrong with your parallel connection ?

[Jherek Carnelia]

Ah... I thought Transdisk was a transfer prog that wrote the disk as it transferred!
I am using DD disks (although they are old and have been written on many times), and I think the connection is good.
I will go and get Transdisk and try it tomorrow. I will keep you posted.
Thanks
:laugh oops! again... it seems I have it anyway!

[jmmijo]

Jherek, another Amiga app or two to try is Packmaster or Tracksaver GUI. They are both GUI based apps that support multiple file archives, like adf files for instance. I personally use them both on my A4000 and use Tracksaver GUI the most.

I also preformat my disks with something called Formatter. This app will allow you to format with verify and to use the auto-diskchange built into the Amiga. This is handy to format on one drive while writing to another, that's if you have two floppy drives that is :)

The main reason for re-formatting your floppys is that some of the older ones can no longer hold a proper disk format and need to be recycled. This will ensure that the floppy you intend to use is in fact still good!

All of these apps can be found on Aminet.

[ptrchiappe]

While you're on aminet, you can also download the XFS package that, among other things, lets you read an adf file as if it was a real floppy (so you don't even have to write to the disks );) .

[Jherek Carnelia]

Well I don't know what's going on!

I have used Formatter 2.7 to do a verify format and it formats a blank disk with no reported errors. I can use DOpus to copy files onto the new disk. I can drag files onto it. I can read the files from DOpus.

I used Transdisk to write a file from the harddrive to the disk.

-w work:sas-c1.adf

...off it goes and does it. The disk is empty if I double-click it or try to look at it from DOpus.

If I take the disk out and reinsert it - DF0:NDOS !!!

I have looked at the adf file from DOpus and it reports 901120 bytes. I can do a hexread and it displays loads of stuff which seems to indicate that the adf is not empty.

To say I am puzzled would be an understatement! :confused :confused :confused

@jmmijo
I searched Aminet this morning and couldn't find Tracksaver GUI - do you have its' filename?

[jmmijo]

Man, I have no idea other then the drive and/or the media itself. Have you tried a new pack of HD disks? I would do this and cover the extra hole if needed then use Formatter to re-format as an Amiga DOS disk then try it once more.

Here is the link to Tracksaver, they shortened the name!

http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/disk/misc/tsgui.lha

John...

[Overdoc]

Well, now I see what's the problem:

There is a ghost inside your Amigas drive that wants to protect your A-1200 from illegal ADF copies being put back on real floppies which will be used on the A-1200 then. It is the soul of former Amiga programmers that haunt you ;)

Ok, seriously, is your A-1200 one made by Escom or Commodore ?
Does it's label say 'Commodore A-1200' or does it say 'Amiga A1200 HD' ?
I think I once heard that some newer Amigas by Escom had some drive problem. Something like a missing ready-signal. But that would also mean that your A-1200 must have some problems with all N-DOS disks, like e.g. a lot of games and demos.

The last idea that come to my mind would be that you have some problem in your system, like a wrong trackdisk.device file or something like that ? I know that e.g. my version of Crossdos has to install a patch for trackdisk.device because there are some bugs in it. Maybe that could have something to do with it ?

[jmmijo]

This could be the issue as I can convert and get adf's to work fine on all my Amiga's, knocks on wood :cheese

[Twistin'Ghost]

I tend to lean in the direction of covering the extra hole (on high density disks).

[Jherek Carnelia]

@Overdoc - it is a Commodore A1200, how can I check the trackdisk.device file?

My friend is going to lend me his external drive, so hopefully that will eliminate the hardware side of things.

I'm only using DD disks, so the hole trick isn't applicable.

If all else fails does anyone know of an exorcist to rid me of the ghost in my machine? - I wonder if it is a virus, or a dodgy PSU...

I am going to try XFS in the meantime.

[jmmijo]

Originally posted by Jherek Carnelia
@Overdoc - it is a Commodore A1200, how can I check the trackdisk.device file?

My friend is going to lend me his external drive, so hopefully that will eliminate the hardware side of things.

I'm only using DD disks, so the hole trick isn't applicable.

If all else fails does anyone know of an exorcist to rid me of the ghost in my machine? - I wonder if it is a virus, or a dodgy PSU...

I am going to try XFS in the meantime.

So you were able to find Tracksaver GUI on AMINET then?

Something has to work for you. If need be lemme know if you wanna try out a real Shitnon 720k drive. I still have a couple lying around :)

[RCK]

@jmmijo: Just a note, if you reply directly after someone, don't {quote} all his previous message !! (or I will really think you are a Spam-BóT ;))

[jmmijo]

Sorry about that, I'll be editing direct quotes in the future, thanks for the heads up ;)

[Overdoc]

To check your diskdrive boot up X-Copy and insert a well known good disk - best would be a original Workbench.
Then select 'Checkdisk ' from the tools menu and have a look if your drive can read all tracks of the disk correctly.
Maybe your drive is slightly misaligned ?

Also check the ADFs once transferred over to the A-1200 with this XMS thingy. Maybe the transfer is the problem ?
Maybe give other methods a try, like e.g. transferring with 720k PC disks via Crossdos ?

[Jherek Carnelia]

I have just tried my friend's external disk drive and I can create adfs on it! I guess my internal drive is dodgy. Another mate is going to bring me another A1200 tomorrow - I can check it out then...

[jmmijo]

Let us know what happens then Jherek, it could just be the internal drive is slightly out of alignment. Not sure it's really worth trying to get repaired because you can just replace the drive with another one. Also, didn't some of the 1200's come with HD drives or am I just confusing this with the 4000 ?!?

[Overdoc]

@Jherek Carnelia:

You can find out if your drive is dodgy by doing the X-Copy check like I described !

@jimmijo:

I don't think A-1200s had HD drives from factory, but maybe you mean that some came with PC-drives ?
That's why I asked whether it was a A-1200 from Commodore or one of the later models made by Escom, because they came with PC-drives and a little adaptor board to make them work on the Amiga.

[jmmijo]

Ah, thanks Overdoc, that clears things up for me ;)

[Jherek Carnelia]

Well, my friend gave me 3 A600s and an A1200 + 4 external floppy drives. I have tried all the internal and all the external drives - in both A1200s and I still can't make adfs!! . I am thinking of buying a new one from eyetech but wonder if it will work.

[oldpx]

Edited: Sorry I misread the problem and offered a solution to an Amiga2PC problem. Here is a fixed description:

1)Download .dms from aminet

2)Boot workbench under WinUAE

3)Insert your .adf to df0:

4)Run dms and let it read the disk and create a .dms file

5)Format a floppy as 720k from the PC

6)Copy this .dms file to the floppy

7)Run CrossDos from the Amiga

8)Read the PC formatted floppy from Amiga

9)Write the .dms file to an Amiga disk by using the dms utility from the real amiga

[Jherek Carnelia]

@ Burseg - Before I try your idea I have gone back a step or two...

I have tried X-Copy it checkdisks an original WB disk ok.
I have unarchived XFS in WinUAE it unpacks ok. I have transferred the lha file to the Amiga - it won't unpack, it gets an error in the same (2) place/s each time...
I have tried lowering the transfer rate from 8000 to 4000 - still get the same problem. Is this what the real problem is do you think?
I must say that I am getting pretty despondent now :sad

@ Burseg - do you mean transfer the .dms files to the amiga? I use the PC for downloading, the amiga is not connected to the internet?

[RetroMan]

What Burseg tries to tell you (I think) is, leave alone that PC2Amiga for a moment, and put an .DMS, .ZIP or whatever on the PC on a 720KB DOS FORMATED DISK ! You can read those with tools like CrossDos on the Amiga ! If it works that way, got hava a faulty transfer with PC2Amiga !

[oldpx]

:kill :kill :kill

I misread the thread and explained to transfer from Amiga2PC, but RetroMan fixed the information :)

[jmmijo]

Jherak, try out RetroMan's suggestion first, this will bypass the transfer cable and software to see if that's the culprit. The other thing is that there are three methods of cable transfer Amiga<->PC and they are serial cable, parallel cable and network cable. The network cable should be the fastes but trying to locate a NIC for an Amiga is not easy and they tend to be spendy. The next should be the parallel cable then finally the serial cable. You may find that since the cable seems to be the common connection between all the different machines you've tried that this is the most likely cause of the problem.

[Overdoc]

Yes, that's my thaught, too. As suggested earlier already I assume there is something wrong with the transfer from PC to Amiga and not the process of writing the ADF back to a disk.
But it is very strange then that you can transfer single files and it is also strange that ADFs have the right size.
Otherwise I would think that the transfer speed its too high. If possible, try slowing it down a bit.

[Jherek Carnelia]

I think I have cracked it! (Well, not me, all of you guys!) ;) . I have made a dms and written it to a floppy and all seems to be ok. I haven't tested it all out yet, I'll do that tomorrow - it's getting late now...

Thank you all for your help and patience - @Overdoc - I was just convinced my parallel connection was good! Even though you suggested it may not be days ago...

Thank you all again... sighs with relief. (crosses fingers and trundles off to bed)