DOS Format Fixer version 1.0 was released on July 28, 1998. It requires North American English Mac OS 7.6, 7.6.1, 8.0 or 8.1.
DOS Format Fixer 1.0 is a utility that corrects format information on some DOS format floppy disks for use with PC Exchange 2.1.1 (referred to as PC Exchange in this update). The DOS Format Fixer 1.0 will prevent some kinds of corruption. If you have a floppy disk that is already unusable, DOS Format Fixer 1.0 will not repair the damage. Floppy disks formatted with Windows 3.1 or DOS 5.0 can experience data corruption when they are used on a Macintosh with PC Exchange. This issue is resolved in PC Exchange 2.2, which is included with Mac OS 8.1. If you are using Mac OS 8.0, you can download the Mac OS 8.1 Update for free. If you are using Mac OS 7.6 or Mac OS 7.6.1, you can use the DOS Format Fixer 1.0 to avoid the situation.
Certain floppy disks have erroneous information written to the first sector. Floppy disks normally have a 12-bit file allocation table (FAT), but the floppy disks with erroneous information have "FAT16" written to the first sector. This indicates to PC Exchange that the floppy disk should have a 16-bit FAT when it actually has a 12-bit FAT. This causes PC Exchange to incorrectly read the FAT and PC Exchange subsequently may either overwrite data in used sectors or read data from the wrong sectors. The DOS Format Fixer 1.0 changes the data on the first sector of the floppy disk. It replaces "FAT16" with "FAT12" so PC Exchange will now treat the floppy disk as having a 12-bit FAT.
This software consists of a self-mounting Disk Copy compressed image (.smi) file. Download this software to your hard drive and then double-click it to use it. You do not need Disk Copy to access .smi files.
Follow the steps below to use DOS Format Fixer 1.0. It is recommended that you check your floppy disks using Scandisk or some other disk repair utility in DOS or Windows first, as the DOS Format Fixer 1.0 does not repair floppy disks that have already become unusable.
2. Open DOS Format Fixer 1.0. A message will remind you to turn off PC Exchange. Click OK.
3. Make sure DOS Format Fixer 1.0 is the active application.
4. Insert each floppy disk you wish to fix. DOS Format Fixer 1.0 will correct the first sector on the floppy disk and then eject it.
5. After all floppy disks have been fixed, quit DOS Format Fixer 1.0.
6. Turn PC Exchange back on.