208543614@excalibur.UUCP (Miller) (09/26/86)
>1) Recently i read the following (translated) in the Dutch magazine > "Commodore Dossier": > > > Remember that even renowned programs like Vizawrite use the disk- > > corrupting 'SAVE "@0:...."'-command. Using a new name and > > scratching is safer. > > Why is that command disk-corrupting ? Is it unsafe just because if > something goes wrong during saving, your file is corrupted, or is > there more to it (like a bug in the drive o.s.) ? The command corrupts the disk only if it is almost full. Here's what happens: You instruct the 64 to perform a save and replace by using save "@0:...". The 64 doesn't delete the old version until it has finished saving the new one. So, if there is not room on the disk for another copy of the file you are saving, horrible and unspeakable things will happen. >2) I frequently have read-errors when trying to save files when my > diskdrive has been on for, say, more than 2 hours. After switching > it off and letting it cool for a few minutes, everything is OK > again. Any solutions ? Yeah, get an exhaust fan, and put it on the top vents. Also, turn your drive off when you're not using it. (Unless, of course, you're trying to use a 1670 modem at the same time....) >3) I heard that the annoying clicking sound of the 1541 drive has > something to do with the head positioning on track 1. Does this > mean that if you don't use track 1, the drive won't click ? > I noticed that there's a lot of clicking before bad reads. What happens on a read error, or similar situation, is that the disk drive tells the read head to go back to track zero. Since the 1541 is not the most sophisticated recording media in existence, it does this by stepping the head 44 tracks out. (44 is the number of tracks on a "real" disk, if I remember my numbers correctly) If the head didn't start at the innermost track, then it bangs against the stop when it reahces 0, and continues to do that until it believes that it has stepped 44 times. This is what causes the noise that sounds as if your disk has been forced down a garbage disposer. If you're unlucky enough to have one of the older 1541s, this may eventually knock your head out of alignment. --Herb Miller UUCP: ...psuvax1--\ \ burdvax---\ / \ ...seismo---/ \ -----excalibur!208543614 / / .....pyrnj--------vu-vlsi--/ ARPA: burdvax!excalibur!208543614@seismo.css.gov My ARPA accounts which forward to excalibur: hmiller@athena.mit.edu ham%deep-thought.mit.edu@eddie.mit.edu herb@ai.ai.mit.edu rahersch@athena.mit.edu
cbcscmst@cs1.UUCP (Michael Steven Temkin) (10/01/86)
In article <135@excalibur.UUCP>, 208543614@excalibur.UUCP (Miller) writes: > Yeah, get an exhaust fan, and put it on the top vents. Also, > turn your drive off when you're not using it. (Unless, of course, you're > trying to use a 1670 modem at the same time....) > --Herb Miller I hate to admit it, but I have had no problems with my 1541 in the 3 years that I have had it. I keep my drive propped up on two pieces of molding so that air can get underneath it and keep it cool. A friend of mine *had* the overheating problem, and he did this, and it has not happened since. -- .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. Mike Temkin {inhp4,psivax,ttidca}!csun!cs1!cbcscmst Ours is not to question why...Or is it? .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.