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Power Macintosh: Difficulty Using Floppy Disks

Last updated: September 20, 1996

MacFixIt (formerly Sad Macs) investigated further the issue below and found out that the Power Mac Format Patch extension was conspicuously missing from the Apple online services; anyway, System 7.5.5 incorporates the patch. A later 5 September 1996-Information Alley stated the following:

Several customers have asked where to obtain this patch so we wanted to update this information with the following:

• The Power Mac Format Patch is needed on ONLY Power Macintosh 7500, 7600, 8500, or 9500 computers with a 180 MHz or faster PowerPC processor.
• If you purchase a Power Macintosh 8500/180 or Power Macintosh 9500/180MP or the Power Macintosh 180 MHz Processor Upgrade Card Kit, the Power Mac Format Patch is included on a floppy disk.
• The Power Mac Format Patch will also be posted to Apple Software Updates as well. Look for the posting notification in the Info Alley soon.

TECHINFO-0020342

TOPIC

I have a Power Macintosh 8500/180 computer, and recently I have been having some difficulty using floppy disks. For example, when initializing or erasing floppy disks, an error message occurs stating that the disk is damaged. Also, some of the high-density floppy disks have only 1 MB of available space after being initialized rather than the normal 1.4 MB that should be available.
What could be causing these floppy disk errors?

DISCUSSION

You likely need to reinstall the Power Mac Format Patch, which corrects the problems that you are experiencing with floppy disks. The Power Mac Format Patch is required on any Power Macintosh 7500, 7600, 8500, or 9500 computer with a 180 MHz or faster PowerPC processor.
If these errors just started occuring, then you have probably recently performed a clean installation of system software. The new System Folder created during the "clean" installation process does not contain the patch, and needs it to function properly.
Or, you may have just installed a 180 megahertz (MHz) PowerPC processor upgrade card into your computer.

To install the Power Mac Format Patch, do the following:

1. While holding down the Option key on your keyboard, drag the Power Mac Format Patch icon onto the System Folder's icon.
   (If you are dragging the icon from the Apple Extras folder on your hard disk, holding down the Option key causes the icon to be copied instead of moved, which leaves a copy of the icon in the Apple Extras folder in case you need to copy it again later.)
2. Click OK to automatically place the patch in the Extensions folder.
3. Restart your computer by choosing Restart from the Special menu.

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