How much storage space is on a newly INITialized 5.25″ diskette?
A standard DOS 3.3 diskette has 35 Tracks. Each Track contains 16 256- byte Sectors. This gives 35 x 16 x 256 = 143360 bytes per side. Current versions of DOS 3.3– e.g. Prontodos, etc.– use Track 0 and Track 1 plus a sector on Track 2 for DOS; and, Track 17 is used for holding the Catalog of files and other disk information. This leaves roughly 130k bytes per side free for your HELLO program and other files. By the way, when it comes to the way it is stored on-disk, DOS 3.3 is not like the PC’s MSDOS or Apple’s ProDOS. DOS 3.3 is ‘hidden’ on reserved tracks, mainly Tracks 0 and 1. There is no “DOS 3.3” file which will show up on a CATALOG. ———————- 009- On my PC I can FORMAT diskettes with or without adding the operating system. Can I format a DOS 3.
