walker@ug.cs.dal.ca (Paul D. Walker) (11/29/89)
Recently, there was a lot of discussion in this news group of formatting
an MFM drive to RLL capacity using an RLL controller. From my understanding
of the resultant debate was that it was safe to format (in general) the MFM as
RLL, and that with the higher quality drives and drive controllers, that this
would not be a problem with the hardware.
My question is, can a Segate-251 MFM drive be used as an RLL drive? For
those that don't know, the ST-251 is a 28ms access, 40 meg hard drive with
820 cylinders and 6 heads (type 40).
The RLL card that I am trying to use with this drive is a Data Technology
Corporation (DTC) 7287 RLL Controller card.
I have tried using the cards on board firmware to format the drive 26
sectors per track instead of 17. If I used the standard types table, it is
also a type 40 drive. After the type has been set, my machine is rebooted
and the low level format program is run. Immediately, an error is returned
and nothing happens. It seems that the drive does not like any of the
commands that the controller sends to it.
I tried to use a program called 'Speedstore which is a 'hard disk
preparation and maintenance program'. For a drive type, I tried changing the
number of sectors from 17 to 26. When this program tries to format the disk,
it comes back with a '01h bad command to bios' message, and then stops.
I also tried to select the ST-277R type (820 cyl, 6 heads, 26 sectors) and
received the same error message.
Can anyone tell me if the drive can be used as RLL or not? Is the ST251's
bios limiting the us of the drive to MFM only? Does anyone know how to make
this work together? Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, there is no need to tell me that Seagate will not honor the warranty
of on of their MFM drives used as RLL. I am aware of this, and the warranty
has expired anyway.
Thanks in advance for any help that anyone can give me.
- Paul D. Walker - _ /| - Dalhousie U.
- walker @ dalcsug - \'o.O' Ackpth! - Comp Science
- walker @ ug.cs.dal.ca - =(___)= /_Thptpth! - fourth year!
- {utai | uunet}!dalcs!ug!walker - U - Gonna graduate
- 01WALKER @ DALAC.BITNET - Bill for President! - soon...
kaleb@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Kaleb Keithley) (11/30/89)
In article <1989Nov29.074452.9386@ug.cs.dal.ca> walker@ug.cs.dal.ca (Paul D. Walker) writes: > >My question is, can a Segate-251 MFM drive be used as an RLL drive? For >those that don't know, the ST-251 is a 28ms access, 40 meg hard drive with >820 cylinders and 6 heads (type 40). > I don't see why not, I have a Micropolis MFM drive with 1024 cyl and 8 heads, and I did the same thing. Working fine for over six months now. >The RLL card that I am trying to use with this drive is a Data Technology >Corporation (DTC) 7287 RLL Controller card. > Although I have a WD1003 RLL controller. > I have tried using the cards on board firmware to format the drive 26 >sectors per track instead of 17. If I used the standard types table, it is >also a type 40 drive. After the type has been set, my machine is rebooted >and the low level format program is run. Immediately, an error is returned >and nothing happens. It seems that the drive does not like any of the >commands that the controller sends to it. > Western Digital's on board bios set the drive type in CMOS to type 1. I tried changing it to other types and got errors; I don't recall the specifics. When I changed it back to 1, everything worked fine again. > I tried to use a program called 'Speedstore which is a 'hard disk >preparation and maintenance program'. For a drive type, I tried changing the >number of sectors from 17 to 26. When this program tries to format the disk, >it comes back with a '01h bad command to bios' message, and then stops. > I also ran WD's surface scan, which showed more bad sectors than the bad sector list shipped with the drive. Even when I entered the bad sectors in the map, DOS 4.01's high level format still tried to recover them. Chewey, get us outta here! kaleb@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (818)354-8771 Kaleb Keithley
phil@diablo.amd.com (Phil Ngai) (11/30/89)
In article <1989Nov29.074452.9386@ug.cs.dal.ca> walker@ug.cs.dal.ca (Paul D. Walker) writes: | My question is, can a Segate-251 MFM drive be used as an RLL drive? For |those that don't know, the ST-251 is a 28ms access, 40 meg hard drive with |820 cylinders and 6 heads (type 40). I just did it with two different ST251-1s. I'm using a WD1006VSR2 (or something like that). Don't know why your DTC is giving you problems. -- Phil Ngai, phil@diablo.amd.com {uunet,decwrl,ucbvax}!amdcad!phil AT&T Unix System V.4: Berkeley Unix for 386 PCs!
keithe@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Keith Ericson) (12/01/89)
In article <2292@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> kaleb@mars.UUCP (Kaleb Keithley) writes: <In article <1989Nov29.074452.9386@ug.cs.dal.ca> walker@ug.cs.dal.ca (Paul D. Walker) writes: <>My question is, can a Segate-251 MFM drive be used as an RLL drive? For <>those that don't know, the ST-251 is a 28ms access, 40 meg hard drive with <>820 cylinders and 6 heads (type 40). < <I don't see why not, I have a Micropolis MFM drive with 1024 cyl and 8 heads, <and I did the same thing. Working fine for over six months now. Using a successful RLL'ing of a Micropolis MFM drive as proof that the same will work with a Seagate is extremely optimistic at best, and an insult to Micropolis at worst. kEITHe
kaleb@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Kaleb Keithley) (12/02/89)
In article <6440@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM> keithe@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Keith Ericson) writes: >Using a successful RLL'ing of a Micropolis MFM drive as proof that the same will >work with a Seagate is extremely optimistic at best, and an insult to Micropolis >at worst. Why flame me? I just wanted to report the success of a similar attempt. A little positive reinforcement goes a long way. I've also RLL'd a Seagate 20Meg drive into a 30Megger, but thought it was redundant and boring and unnecessary and... Chewey, get us outta here! kaleb@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (818)354-8771 Kaleb Keithley
davidsen@sungod.crd.ge.com (William Davidsen) (12/04/89)
In article <1989Nov29.074452.9386@ug.cs.dal.ca> walker@ug.cs.dal.ca (Paul D. Walker) writes: | My question is, can a Segate-251 MFM drive be used as an RLL drive? For | those that don't know, the ST-251 is a 28ms access, 40 meg hard drive with | 820 cylinders and 6 heads (type 40). I've done it with Adaptek 2372 and WD1006VSR2 cards. Worked fine. bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM) {uunet | philabs}!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me