[comp.sys.ibm.pc] Hard disks

dwa@ihu1h.UUCP (10/30/87)

Does anyone know what the largest size hard disk MS-DOS (generic) will
accept as a single logical drive?

Also, does anyone know which is more reliable (soft and hard) in the
hard disk world. MFM or RLL ??  I know the technical differences, but do
not know any track records.  

This information will be used in a few purchase decisions.  Thanks in advance.

Dave Alvin   AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, Il.
ihnp4!ihu1h!dwa

woan@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Ronald S. Woan) (11/06/87)

Thanks for all the netland responses to the query for low-level formatting
programs. I ended up using a package called HDDIAG which I believe to
be a shareware product (not sure, no docs), and my hard disk runs ok now
(sort of, fail ECC test ?). Lo and behold, almost two meg. in bad sectors.


Well now that it is time to get a new hard disk drive, does anyone have
suggestions on which of the growing number of available models to purchase.
Here are the basic guidelines:

	1. under 30ms access time
	2. under $700 (mail order)
	3. does not need specialized controller
	4. 30+ meg.

From the trade news that I have seen, I am leaning towards a 40 meg Miniscribe
model. Any Comments.


						Ron
						woan@cory.berkeley.edu

grinberg@bimacs.BITNET (Dennis Grinberg) (05/01/89)

I have a clone (Taiwanese)_ that a bought a couple of years ago from a store
that has since seen red. (I told you so...)  My hard disk (Microscience
100341-001) has recently been giving problems.  I can't even test it with
Nortons DT because when trying to read one of the clusters (marked as bad)
it gives a "Disk C: not ready" and quits.

I'd like to do a low level format (I do not have spinrite), the gc800:0005
doesn't do anything and the INT 13 interrupts documented in the _old_
IBM XT technical reference don't seem to work for me.  My controller
is an Adaptec, the only other identification on it is the BIOS which says
405702-00A 1986 and another chip with 405701-00 1986.

Anybody have any ideas?

Using the controller+disk I get 30M, is there any way to know if the
controller is RRL?  One solution to my problem would be to format the
disk on a different computer, but I've go to know what type of controller
should do the job.

Last question: Can anyone list the different types of AT drives?

Thanks!!!



--
Dennis Grinberg, Math & CS Department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan ISRAEL
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jarnot@canisius.UUCP (Kevin Jarnot) (05/08/89)

In article <846@bimacs.BITNET>, grinberg@bimacs.BITNET (Dennis Grinberg) writes:
> I have a clone (Taiwanese)_ that a bought a couple of years ago from a store
> that has since seen red. (I told you so...)  My hard disk (Microscience
> 100341-001) has recently been giving problems.  I can't even test it with
> Nortons DT because when trying to read one of the clusters (marked as bad)
> it gives a "Disk C: not ready" and quits.
> 
> I'd like to do a low level format (I do not have spinrite), the gc800:0005
> doesn't do anything and the INT 13 interrupts documented in the _old_
> IBM XT technical reference don't seem to work for me.  My controller
> is an Adaptec, the only other identification on it is the BIOS which says
> 405702-00A 1986 and another chip with 405701-00 1986.
> 
> Anybody have any ideas?

Dennis, I recommend a great program called Disk Manager.  It will allow you
to install many different non-compatible drives on a PC/XT/AT.  Works very
well, but be fore-warned, it uses device drivers for partitioning, and they
MAY get lossed (therefore, losing your data).  Probably won't happen, though
(knock on wood).

> Last question: Can anyone list the different types of AT drives?

By the way, a VERY complete listing of drives comes with Disk Manager (with
many specs on said drives, also).

						Kevin

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