boneill@hawk.ulowell.edu (Debugger) (02/09/88)
This is just a friendly warning about Microtek hard disk controllers, specifically the HDC-1000. I was just informed by the company I purchased my Hard Drive from that Microtek will not support MS-DOS 3.3 in its hard drive controllers, after a recent bug was discovered that trashed my Hard Drive several times in an attempt to install 3.3. Apparently, the Controller cannot access files properly under DOS 3.3. After contacting the Customer Service Dept. at PC Network a couple of weeks ago, I found that it was a bug in the controller (I was afraid it was the drive) and that they were waiting for Microtek to work on a fix. I called again today, and they said Microtek will not bother supporting 3.3. PC Network is going to inform me of their plans to fix this problem, hopefully doing away with Microtek. In the meantime, I would appreciate any infomation on some hard disk controllers that are available, preferably low-cost, should I be required to purchase a new one. Thanx in advance. ============================================================================ Brian O'Neill University of Lowell boneill@hawk.cs.ulowell.edu - boneill@hawk.UUCP ..!ulowell!hawk!boneill
davidsen@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP (William E. Davidsen Jr) (02/09/88)
In article <2740@swan.ulowell.edu> boneill@hawk.ulowell.edu (Debugger) writes: | This is just a friendly warning about Microtek hard disk controllers, | specifically the HDC-1000. | | I was just informed by the company I purchased my Hard Drive from that | Microtek will not support MS-DOS 3.3 in its hard drive controllers, after a | recent bug was discovered that trashed my Hard Drive several times in an | attempt to install 3.3. Apparently, the Controller cannot access files | properly under DOS 3.3. My IBM rep tells me that some RLL controllers use sector sizes other than 512, and that this causes no end of problems with DOS 3.3. Don't be too quick to blame the controller, but if (a) it's RLL, and (b) if you can use standard sector sizes, you may be able to solve your own problem at the cost of a little disk capacity. -- bill davidsen (wedu@ge-crd.arpa) {uunet | philabs | seismo}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me
boneill@hawk.ulowell.edu (Bug-Hunter) (02/10/88)
In article <9475@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP> davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes: >In article <2740@swan.ulowell.edu> boneill@hawk.ulowell.edu (Debugger) writes: [Warning against Microtek HDC-1000 Hard Disk Controller] > >My IBM rep tells me that some RLL controllers use sector sizes other >than 512, and that this causes no end of problems with DOS 3.3. Don't be >too quick to blame the controller, but if (a) it's RLL, and (b) if you >can use standard sector sizes, you may be able to solve your own problem >at the cost of a little disk capacity. >-- > bill davidsen (wedu@ge-crd.arpa) The manual to the HDC-1000 makes no mention of it being an RLL controller (which I doubt it is) and nothing about changing sector sizes. Microtek admits that it is a bug, but will not do anything about it. ============================================================================ Brian O'Neill University of Lowell boneill@hawk.cs.ulowell.edu - boneill@hawk.UUCP ..!ulowell!hawk!boneill
berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu (02/13/88)
Why should DOS 3.3 have problems with other sector sizes when every
other version of DOS from 2.00 handles them ok?
Mike Berger
Department of Statistics
Science, Technology, and Society
University of Illinois
berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu
{ihnp4 | convex | pur-ee}!uiucuxc!clio!bergerleonard@bucket.UUCP (Leonard Erickson) (02/19/88)
In article <16800209@clio> berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu writes:
<Why should DOS 3.3 have problems with other sector sizes when every
<other version of DOS from 2.00 handles them ok?
<
< Mike Berger
Perhaps because (unlike earlier versions) DOS 3.3x was written by *IBM* and
and then licensed back to Microsoft. The earlier versions were written by
Microsoft and licensed to IBM....
--
Leonard Erickson ...!tektronix!reed!percival!bucket!leonard
CIS: [70465,203]
"I used to be a hacker. Now I'm a 'microcomputer specialist'.
You know... I'd rather be a hacker."