It is possible to format a floppy a bit over size. Most drives will accommodate
2 to 4 extra tracks. Depending on the drive and the controller it's possible to
alter the number of sectors per track, but all tracks must have the same number
of sectors. Typically, altering the number of sectors renders the format
non-bootable.
Schenk & Horn CopyStar is one such program. It's old, originally from 1994, but
it's known to work on Windows 2000, Server 2003 and older. I've not tried it on
XP and later. Probably not compatible with 64 bit Windows.
http://www.programfiles.com/Default.asp?LinkId=13681
Microsoft used an over-capacity format they called DMF. For programs (like
Windows 95) where the first disk had to be bootable it was standard 1.44M.
IBM used a different over-capacity format for OS/2's install disks, but nothing
included with OS/2 could write data to the disks, despite the inclusion of a
utility to create blank disks with that format. (The largest all floppy install
I ever did was OS/2 Warp 3.0, followed by a couple of large updates.)
If only the entire OEM computer industry had wholeheartedly adopted the 2.88M
floppy, instead of only IBM and Compaq sorta halfway supporting it. "Hey look!
We're making 2.88M floppy drives standard on ALL our computers! How about YOU,
Hewlett Packard, Packard Bell, Gateway 2000... *Apple*? You wanna fall behind
us? Keep using that obsolete 1.44M!"
From: Felix Miata <mrma...@earthlink.net>
To: freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2017 9:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Freedos-user] boot floppy disk image too big for a disk
I just looked inside http://www.freedos.org/download/download/FD12FLOPPY.zip
"boot floppy", and a 3.5" 1.44M floppy. My floppy has 1457664 total bytes, 2847
512 byte sectors. The image downloaded is 1474560 bytes, so the downloaded
image
would not fit here either.
-- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant
words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation)
Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!
Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/
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