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If
you
try
to write
a
new DOS file
onto
a diskette
that
has been
write·protected
,
you
will
get an
ERRQR·144.
SELECT
IT
E 1' 1 OR 1",,,,,,
1
FOR I'IEI'IU
H
I
"'""'
I
DR
I
VE TO
W
R
I
T
E
DOS F ILES Tn7
1
I"'"'"
I
TYPE "Y" TO WRIT
E
DO:; TO DR
I
lJE
1
.
Y
[FIew'n
]
WRIT
I
NG NEW DOS F
I
LES
I. FORMAT DISK
Ordinarily,
this
option
is used
to format a diskette
in
enhanced
density, provided you are
using an
ATARI XF551
Disk
Drive.
How-
ever,
when executing this command DOS 2.5 will automatically
switch
to
single-density formatting
if it finds
that the drive you
are using is an ATARI 810 (which can format
diskettes
and
manage
information
only
in
single
density).
Option
P.
on
the DOS
2.5 Menu,
FORMAT
SINGLE, can be
used to
" force"
an XF551 Disk Drive
to
format a
diskette in
single
density.
The
diskette to
be
formatted can be blank or
have files
on it
that you
no longer
want.
Formatting
writes
information
on the
diskette
that
allows data to
be
stored and
retrieved.
A diskette formatted with
this
option
using an
XF551
Disk
Drive is capable of storing information in
1023
sectors,
while a
diskette
formatted
in
single
density can store information in
719
sectors.
However,
the formatting process
itself reserves
some sectors
for
the
exclusive
use of
DOS.
So
a
diskette
newly
formatted in Single
density
will show (in a
directory list-
ing)
only
707 FREE SECTORS,
and in
enhanced density 999
+
FREE
SECTORS.
There
are actually 1010 sectors
available
in
enhanced
density,
but DOS
2.5
uses
three-digit
numbers
only for the sake of compatibility with
DOS
2.05.
43
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