Re: Saving to Floppy Disk under OS/2

[Robert Holmgren holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to note from xywrite@xxxxxxxx Tue, 10 Mar 1998 00:45:09 -0500 (EST)
> ...I didn't get the "Unknown Unit" error.
 
> I also tried doing a Chkdsk on the particular floppy in question, and it
> found some currupted EAs and fixed them. Then I tried modifying and
> saving a file on that floppy, too. That also worked, and I didn't get the
> "Unknown Unit" error.

Sounds to me like your diskette FAT table is a mess. It's possible that OS/2
thinks it is not a FAT diskette. Conceivably, you'd get an "Unknown unit" error
if you stuck a Macintosh diskette in your drive (just guessing).

DOS doesn't know from extended attributes, so of course if you're transporting
files that have EAs back & forth, and overwriting them, something's going to get
screwed up. What's perplexing to me is that XyWrite does NOT create
files with extended attributes! So where are they coming from? You're
transporting executables back and forth, and altering them with XyWrite?? You're
using long file names? Dedicate a diskette to XyWrite files only, and I don't
think you'll have any EAs period.

> So I guess the problem was a bad EA somewhere on the floppy

In my shop, any diskette with a bad EA or CHKDSK failure goes straight into
wastebasket. No fixing no nothing. Dump it. Doesn't everyone have a stack of
reformatted AOL + Compuserve freebies a foot high?

In any case, if you're motivated you can now do a diagnostic procedure to
determine precisely where the "Unknown unit" problem enters your equation, by
moving step-by-step and changing variables such as the brand of diskette used, the
machine on which it's formatted, which machine writes first to the diskette, etc
etc etc. Eventually you'll nail the cause.

BTW, don't do a DOS CHKDSK on an OS/2 disk!