wolfordj@ihlpa.ATT.COM (452is-Wolford) (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. > NO NO NO this may be ok for a XT type drive controller but it is NOT available on a AT type WD1003-RA controller. There is no rom at that address, yes I've tried. I have put in many XT controllers and know how they work, and AT controllers are a different beast ..... I have the documentation (straight from WD), and they say you have to use a seperate formatter to do the LOW LEVEL format. But, they won't give any suggestions or recommends. I have Dimession Storage's format routine, but this version only handles MFM (ie 18 sectors/ track) drives and they want $99 for a program to handle RLL. That's a large $$ for a one time use program. Please only people who have REAL first hand knowledge comment. DOES the new MACE utilities ( I have a 1yr old version that does not work) format AT (NOTICE I SAID "AT" type RLL drives). How about any of the hard disk managers out there, and they do the job ? Jeff Wolford att!iwsag!jww att!ihlpa!wolfordj harvard-+ | ucbvax--+---- att --+ iwsag!jww | decvax--+
seeger@beach.cis.ufl.edu (F. L. Charles Seeger III) (12/03/88)
In article <10726@ihlpa.ATT.COM> wolfordj@ihlpa.ATT.COM (452is-Wolford) writes: | |> 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. | |NO NO NO this may be ok for a XT type drive controller but it |is NOT available on a AT type WD1003-RA controller. There is no rom |at that address, yes I've tried. | |I have the documentation (straight from WD), and they say |you have to use a seperate formatter to do the LOW LEVEL format. But, |they won't give any suggestions or recommends. They make a recommendation in the documentation that I have (User's Guide for WD1003-RAH, WD1003S-RAH, WD1003-RA2, WD1003A-RA2, Document Number 79-000189, copyright 1987). On pages 10-12, under the "Software Installation Instructions" heading, the use of Advanced Diagnostics, Disk Manager and Speedstor are all discussed. Advanced Diagnostics can be used if you have a BIOS with 26 sector disk configurations OR if you have/use the translation feature. However, early versions of the WD1003-RA2 could not format a drive beyond 40 MB with the translation feature. There were actually different feature numbers on these controllers (e.g. F0001) that indicated the translation feature. I once modified one by sniping a jumper wire so that an ST-277R could be fully utilized. This information may be outdated though -- it's 6 months old! BTW, Seagate ships a free version of Disk Manager with their drives that might require it. Rather thoughtful, actually. However, I do prefer Speedstor, which also seemed to result in a faster disk presummably because its driver was better. I don't off-hand recall which F000x number was which. If you need, I'll look it up when I get back from the Sun User's Group meeting next week. |I have Dimession Storage's format routine, but this version only handles |MFM (ie 18 sectors/ track) drives and they want $99 for a program to |handle RLL. That's a large $$ for a one time use program. Seems like you should be able to upgrade yours for less than $99. And it's not a one-time use, either. It includes a device driver that must be installed to use all 26 sectors. Of course, you could format the disk with 17 sectors and use it until you get the appropriate software or BIOS. |Please only people who have REAL first hand knowledge comment. Don't know how REAL this is, but it is FREE! (modulo your comm cost) |DOES the new MACE utilities ( I have a 1yr old version that does not work) |format AT (NOTICE I SAID "AT" type RLL drives). |How about any of the hard disk managers out there, and they do the job ? Don't know. For anyone contemplating buying a WD RLL AT controller, I VERY STRONGLY recommend a WD1006 over the WD1003. It has the on board BIOS and formatting routine (at c800:0005). It has a good media analysis routine as well. BTW, Speedstor is better than Disk Manager on this score, too. If you can afford it, go for the WD1007 ESDI controller, especially if it's going into a fast '386 box. Good luck -- Charles Seeger 216 Larsen Hall Electrical Engineering University of Florida seeger@iec.ufl.edu Gainesville, FL 32611