wolfordj@ihlpa.ATT.COM (452is-Wolford) (11/29/88)
I have a "AT" class WD Floppy / hard disk controler that uses RLL format for the hard disk. (I think WD-1003-RA). What programs are available to format these drives ? I know of a program from Storage Dimensions for ~$100, but that is a little steap for my blood and since it is just a one time use. Would like a program for <= $25. My bios does NOT support any 26 SEC/track drives (ie RLL type). So what is involved in getting around this if any thing. Before I get any flames, YES I am using this in a "AT" clone as my FD/HD controller. I am speaking of the low level format (i.e. these drives are NOT preformatted) and I know how to use DOS format. This is on a AT machine therefor lowlevel format is NOT in the disk controller. Jeff Wolford att!iwsag!jww att!ihlpa!wolfordj harvard-+ | ucbvax--+---- att --+ iwsag!jww | decvax--+
davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr) (11/30/88)
In article <10649@ihlpa.ATT.COM> wolfordj@ihlpa.ATT.COM (452is-Wolford) writes: | I have a "AT" class WD Floppy / hard disk controler that uses | RLL format for the hard disk. (I think WD-1003-RA). | | What programs are available to format these drives ? | | I know of a program from Storage Dimensions for ~$100, but that | is a little steap for my blood and since it is just a one | time use. Would like a program for <= $25. | | My bios does NOT support any 26 SEC/track drives (ie RLL type). So what | is involved in getting around this if any thing. I have posted a program to binaries.ibm.pc which will allow you to use a non-standard hard disk. If you have an old DOS you will be able to have one partition, 3.3 or later support up to 4. Partitions may be up to 32MB. | Before I get any flames, YES I am using this in a "AT" clone | as my FD/HD controller. | | I am speaking of the low level format (i.e. these drives are NOT | preformatted) and I know how to use DOS format. | | This is on a AT machine therefor lowlevel format is NOT in the disk | controller. I won't disagree with you, but I have used Adaptek, Perstor, and other WD controllers, and all had format in the ROM. I have never seen a controller which didn't have it either in ROM or on the disk which comes with the controller. Did you buy this used or something? I assume that you used DEBUG to look at the controller ROM, either C800:5 or other locations at the beginning of ROM which might have the location. I beleive that the BIOS call to format the hard disk calls the controller. Did you try using that? -- bill davidsen (wedu@ge-crd.arpa) {uunet | philabs}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me
ken@nsc.nsc.com (Ken Trant) (12/02/88)
in article <12695@steinmetz.ge.com>, davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr) says: > I beleive that the BIOS call to format the hard disk calls the > controller. Did you try using that? You can use Debug to format your HD (low level) the address is c800:5 even on an adaptec, at least the few systems I have tried it on. -- PATH= Second star to the right, {...Ken Trant...} and straight on till morning National SemiConductor, 1135 Kern Ave. M/S 7C-266; Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Uucp: ...{pyramid,sun,amdahl,apple}!nsc!ken
seg@smsdpg.uu.net (Scott Garfinkle) (12/03/88)
<too much stuff to quote. basically, how to do a low level format of
a generic AT RLL drive/controller pair
>
Easiest thing to do is get the Adaptek AT RLL Hard/Floppy controller (I
forget the number, and don't want to open up my system): it *does* have
rom at c800:5 (actually, you can select where to put the rom by jumper).
The ROM not only does low-level format, but allows one to use non-
standard disks (like the Maxtor 1085 with 8 hds/1024 cyls/*no* write
precomp).
Given that you already have an OMTI or WD controller, there are several
Low level formatting utilities in the public domain available on PC-
oriented Bulletin Board Systems ("BBSes"). If there's enough interest, I'll
download one and post it to binaries.
Scott E. Garfinkle
SMS Data Products Group, Inc.
uunet!smsdpg!seg