Description: Apple IIGS: DOS 3.3 and Hard Drives
Header: Apple IIGS: DOS 3.3 and Hard Drives


 This article last reviewed: 20 November 1990

 TOPIC -----------------------------------------------------------

 Is it possible to partition the hard drive of a Apple IIGS, so one partition
 contains DOS 3.3 and applications and the other contains GS/OS?  I tried it,
 and now the IIGS can't recognize DOS 3.3 floppy disks.

 DISCUSSION ------------------------------------------------------

 DOS 3.3 was created when hard disk drives were only a dream for
 microcomputers. Thus, DOS 3.3 and previous versions understand only the 140K
 5.25-inch disks.  DOS 3.3 does not understand the 3.5-inch disk and
 hard-disk environments.  When hard disks did appear for the Apple II family
 and DOS 3.3 was still the operating system of choice, individual hard-drive
 manufacturers devised independent schemes for dividing their products into
 multiple 140K volumes so DOS 3.3 could work with the hard drives.  ProDOS
 was created to overcome the limits that DOS 3.3 imposed on storage volumes.

 GS/OS would require a File System Translator (FST) to recognize the
 5.25-inch disks of the DOS 3.3 operating system.  However, the FST would be
 of no assistance in providing DOS 3.3 partitions on a hard disk, because the
 lack of hard-disk support is a limitation of DOS 3.3 itself, not the FST.
 To use DOS 3.3 applications on an Apple IIGS requires restarting from a
 5.25-inch DOS 3.3 disk.
 Copyright 1990 Apple Computer, Inc.
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