AFE: Reading 720K MS-DOS Disk Requires SuperDrive



I have a Macintosh Plus and want to use Apple File Exchange and DataViz
translators to read 720K MS-DOS disks.

Whenever I insert a disk, the Macintosh responds with the message that the
disk is unreadable and asks if I want to initialize it.

The Macintosh Utilities User's Guide says: "The File Exchange Utility runs on
any Macintosh computer that has a built-in 800K disk drive."

Why doesn't it work on a Macintosh Plus, but does work when tested on a
Macintosh SE?

Apple File Exchange should run on any Macintosh computer with a built-in 800K
disk drive.

The problem here is not AFE, but the disk, so the manual's statements about
the File Exchange Utility are beside the point. It is not possible to read an
IBM-formatted (MFM) 720K disk in a Macintosh 800K drive. Only the Apple
SuperDrive (formerly Apple FDHD) has this ability.

The Macintosh SE you used for testing is able to read a 720K MS-DOS disk, it
must have an Apple SuperDrive installed.



Published Date: Feb 18, 2012