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Blank Disk Images

File → New Disk Image creates a new disk image file on your computer. It does not put the disk in a drive — mount it afterwards like any other image.

The menu works at the system picker and while a machine is running.

Create an image

  1. Choose File → New Disk Image, then one of the types below.
  2. Pick a folder and filename in the save dialog. GSSquared suggests a name; you can change it.
  3. Cancel writes nothing. Confirm writes the file and closes the dialog.

Then mount it: File → Drives, the Control Panel (F4), or drag-and-drop onto a drive. See Storage & Disks.

What to pick

Menu item File What you get
5.25 Unformatted .woz Empty 5.25″ disk — no filesystem. Format it from DOS, ProDOS, Copy II Plus, or similar.
5.25 Formatted DOS 3.3 .woz 5.25″ disk already formatted for DOS 3.3. Ready to SAVE / INIT usage as a data disk.
5.25 Formatted ProDOS .woz 5.25″ disk already formatted for ProDOS.
3.5 Formatted ProDOS .woz 800K 3.5″ disk already formatted for ProDOS.
32M HD Unformatted .hdv 32 megabyte hard-disk image, all zeros. Needs a formatting utility (or GS/OS, for HFS) before an OS can use it.
32M HD Formatted ProDOS .hdv 32 megabyte hard-disk image with an empty ProDOS volume on it. Catalogue and write to it right away.

“ProDOS” here means a ProDOS-formatted volume, not a particular ProDOS version.

Formatted images can be catalogued and written immediately. Unformatted images are blank media: the guest OS has to format them first. ProDOS 8 has no built-in format command, so an unformatted HD image needs a utility such as Copy II Plus, System Utilities, or GS/OS Advanced Disk Utility — pick 32M HD Formatted ProDOS if you just want a hard disk you can use.

The 32M HD images are raw block files (not WOZ, not 2MG). Mount them on BazFast. ProDOS 8’s usual size limit is 32M.

Volume name

When you create a formatted hard disk image, the volume name is set from the filename you choose: My Games.hdv becomes /MY.GAMES. Names are upper-cased and anything ProDOS does not allow (spaces, punctuation) becomes a period. If the result would not be a legal ProDOS name — more than 15 characters, or not starting with a letter — the volume is named BLANK instead.

The volume is bootable in the sense that it carries a ProDOS boot block, so once you copy PRODOS and a system file onto it, the machine can start from it.

After you save

A new disk image file is just a file on your Mac, PC, or Linux machine. Insert it the same way you would a disk you downloaded:

  • File → Drives — pick the slot/drive
  • Control Panel (F4) — click an empty drive
  • Drag the file onto GSSquared, then onto a drive

5.25″ images go on a 5.25″ drive. 3.5″ / 800K images go on a 3.5″ drive. The 32M .hdv files go on BazFast (800K or larger block images only).