djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) (03/30/89)
I'm trying to determine what interleave the Seagate ST238 30 MB RLL hard
disk drive in my Zenith Z159 XT-compatible is set to. There are a number
of commercial products that I could buy to do this and many other useful
hard disk tests. I was hoping to be able to determine my current interleave
setting using something free in order to see if it's going to be a
worthwhile expense.
I've downloaded two products from SIMTEL20 that do interleave testing.
One is a package from Gibson Research which includes a program called
SPINTEST, which told me that my drive (using a Seagate controller - not
sure what the model number is) was running at a 22:1 interleave (Eek!).
The other product, a program written by Jim Bracking and distributed
in an archive called HDTST125, told me the interleave was 4:1 and that I
could get slightly better performance by re-interleaving at 5:1.
Both packages seem RLL-aware. Question is, who's right? Maybe I need to
find a *third* package, and go for 2 falls out of 3...
Dick O'Connor
Washington Department of Fisheries
Olympia, Washington 98504
Internet Mail: djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu
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DISCLAIMER: I speak only for myself, not for the Department. Here, anyway!
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So long, and thanks from all the fish...jborza%burgundy@Sun.COM (Jim_Borza) (03/30/89)
In article <1382@blake.acs.washington.edu>, djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) writes: > I'm trying to determine what interleave the Seagate ST238 30 MB RLL hard > disk drive in my Zenith Z159 XT-compatible is set to. > [...] > I've downloaded two products from SIMTEL20 that do interleave testing. > SPINTEST, which told me that my drive [...] > was running at a 22:1 interleave (Eek!). > [...] HDTST125, told me the interleave was 4:1 and that I > could get slightly better performance by re-interleaving at 5:1. > [...] > Both packages seem RLL-aware. Question is, who's right? Maybe I need to > find a *third* package, and go for 2 falls out of 3... > SPINTEST probably reported it took 22 revolutions to read the disk - if true, it only implies that the interleave is a tad too low. Had it been MUCH too low, it would have reported taking 26 revolutions (apparently, an occasional "hit" is made). I would accept the 4:1 reported by HDTST125 as accurate and re-format with 5:1 interleave. SPINTEST should then report taking 5 revs to read the disk. When using SPINTEST, the rule of thumb is: when the number of revolutions is equal to the interleave, your disk subsystem is working OK; if the number of revs is much higher than the interleave, the interleave is too low. The old-timers' method is to start with, say 6:1, run SPINTEST and check if revs=interleave. Decrease interleave by 1 and try again. When the revs jumps up, increase the interleave by 1 and leave it there. BTW, I include the interleave in the Volume label on the disk and also in a comment in AUTOEXEC.BAT (I have several machines - all seem to require dif- ferent i'leaves). Volume label= yymmdd_i_ss (i=interleave, ss=DOS). Jim Borza - Sun Microsystems Disclaimer? Sure, why not?
stoppani@hpcupt1.HP.COM (Peter Stoppani) (03/31/89)
>>The other product, a program written by Jim Bracking and distributed >>in an archive called HDTST125, told me the interleave was 4:1 and that I >>could get slightly better performance by re-interleaving at 5:1. >> >>Dick O'Connor >>Washington Department of Fisheries >>Olympia, Washington 98504 Be sure to run HDTST125 several times or at least twice. I ran it on my ST251-1 and it reported an interleave of 5:1 the first time. Since I knew it was really 2:1 I ran it again and HDTST125 got it right (additional runs also got 2:1). Pete...
Addman@cup.portal.com (Dennis A Lish) (03/31/89)
Ontrack Computer Systems makes a nifty little program called DOSUTILS that doe the interleave check and a good deal more...plus the people at Ontrack are very nice to talk too and they're extremely compitent. The program lists for about $100...I got it from a distributor for around $50. The number at on track is 1 800 752 1333.