ProDOS 8 #5: ProDOS Block Device Formatting

Apple II Technical Notes Developer Technical Support

Revised by: Matt Deatherage November 1988
Revised by: Pete McDonald October 1985

This Technical Note formerly described the ProDOS FORMATTER routine.


The ProDOS 8 Update Manual now contains the information about the ProDOS FORMATTER routine which this Note formerly described. This routine is available from Apple Software Licensing at Apple Computer, Inc., 20525 Mariani Avenue, M/S 38-I, Cupertino, CA, 95014 or (408) 974-4667.

Note: This routine does not work properly with network volumes on either entry point. You cannot format a network volume with ProDOS 8, nor can you make low-level device calls to it (as FORMATTER does in ENTRY2 to determine the characteristics of a volume). As a general rule, it is better to use GET_FILE_INFO to determine the size of the volume since ProDOS MLI calls work with network volumes.

Further Reference