Most disk copy programs or other disk utility programs include an extra menu point for sending drive commands, too.Ĭ64 BASIC V2.0 / C128 BASIC V7.0 Sending drive commands ĭrive commands can be sent in a number of ways. Runtime of validate is dependent on the amount of used space on disk. Side note for assembler programmers: Drive commands have no terminating character - instead, the drive starts interpreting the string sent to it once UNLISTEN or CLRCHN is called (see KERNAL ROM).Ī consistency check of the disk's BAM and directory is carried out, e.g., the block availability in the BAM will match with blocks that are actually used by files, as will the free blocks count. RENAME/R - Rename a file Syntax: 'R: newname= oldname' SCRATCH/S - Delete files Syntax: 'S: file' Wildcards '*' and '?' are supported. If id is omitted, the directory of the disk will be erased (disk must be formatted already). NEW/N - Format a floppy disk Syntax: 'N: label, id' label may be up to 16 characters long. However, normal floppies ( 1541/ 70/ 71/ 81) share a standard command set, and even newer drives ( SD2IEC etc.) support these commands and many more. List of standard drive commands Įach drive comes with an own set of commands.