Q. Having purchased an Osborne 1 (single density) disk drive recently, I have been dismayed to find that Sir Computers, from whom I purchased it with a three months guarantee, has gone out of business.

The problem is that the format and copying program COPY will not load and gives the error message 'BDOS error on A'. Second, the main Wordstar file, WS.COM has disappeared from the disk, leaving all the overlays behind.

David Barlon, Nuneaton, Warks.

A. This sounds more like a problem for either a disk head cleaner, or a service. Unless you have left your disks somewhere where they may have become corrupted, they are unlikely to be dead. It sounds as if they're not being read correctly.

Try reading the disks in drive B and, if they work, copy them fast. If they don't, the disk are more than likely bust.

If you haven't got any backups, Micropro may replace your Wordstar disk dree of charge (or at least for a nominal charge), if you can provide proof of where, when, how and why you bought it (It's always worth a try!). The same may well apply to Digital Research who supply the CP/M system disks.