How to DOS-format a Zip disk in OS X 10.1.5?

[chenly]

What ever happened to PC Exchange?

 

[lethe]

try newfs_msdos

 

[chenly]

Which options? I just want regular DOS formatting like PC Exchange used to make.

 

[chenly]

OK, so

newfs_msdos /dev/disk0s1

makes a new filesystem on /dev/disk0s1 using the default parameters, which is fine with me. Does anyone know the command to see which disks have which disk numbers?

 

[lethe]

try df -k

 

[chenly]

...device busy? Huh? It is not! !@#$% Iomega!

[msp-**-**-***-***:/Volumes/Y] [username]% newfs_msdos /dev/disk1s9
newfs_msdos: /dev/disk1s9: Device busy

 

[tas]

Try

sudo umount /dev/disk9

newfs_msdos /dev/disk9

Worked for me.

 

[chenly]

No dice. I wish this bit of functionality was still present at the OS level. Oh, well, I'll hunt down and OS 9 box (they're getting hard to find) and use PC exchange. Thanks, people!

 

[lethe]

i think disk utility.app gives a choice of msdos format. can you use that?

 

[chenly]

It doesn't, at least not on my machine. BTW, Kinko's "Mac" not only failed to offer DOS formatting (no PC Exchange Control Panel), but it sucked (in every sense of the word) my disk in and wouldn't manually eject it. I got it, but the metal cover and spring popped off. Does anyone know how to get the disk closed with the spring in place?

 

[chenly]

1. Bottom inside up.
2. Security chip in bottom.
3. Metal guard over bottom.
4. Disk in bottom.
5. Spring in bottom; clip on metal guard.
6. Top on bottom.
7. Hold together and fasten screws.

Now, back to reformatting. I'm going to a friend's place where I know everything works. F*CK Kinko's. BTW, if you put an unformatted or unreadable Zip disk into a Mac at Kinko's, you can reformat it, including DOS, without logging in!

 

[lethe]

strange that your disk utility.app doesn t do msdos