jkh@bambam.pcs.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) (01/04/91)
Yes, like most folks, I'm occasionally tempted by lower cost disk deals and have about 5 boxes of off-brand specials. For the most part, I've had good luck, but have occasionally have been bitten rather badly. The AmigaDOS format command seems to be virtually useless for finding bad sectors (I'd be very interested to know what it means when it says "verifying") and I've been racking my fish archive looking for something that REALLY formats and verifies a disk. Sure, disks can go bad at any time, but I'd like to at least weed out the initially bad ones and/or be able to verify whether or not a disk has truly "gone bad" before I give it the old heave-ho. Can someone help this poor fool? Jordan -- PCS Computer Systeme GmbH, Munich, West Germany UUCP: pyramid!pcsbst!jkh jkh@meepmeep.pcs.com EUNET: unido!pcsbst!jkh ARPA: jkh@violet.berkeley.edu or hubbard@decwrl.dec.com
david@starsoft.UUCP (Dave Lowrey) (01/05/91)
In article <JKH.91Jan4013822@bambam.pcs.com>, Jordan K. Hubbard writes: > Yes, like most folks, I'm occasionally tempted by lower cost disk > deals and have about 5 boxes of off-brand specials. For the most part, > I've had good luck, but have occasionally have been bitten rather > badly. The AmigaDOS format command seems to be virtually useless for > finding bad sectors (I'd be very interested to know what it means when > it says "verifying") and I've been racking my fish archive looking for > something that REALLY formats and verifies a disk. Sure, disks can go > bad at any time, but I'd like to at least weed out the initially bad ones > and/or be able to verify whether or not a disk has truly "gone bad" before > I give it the old heave-ho. > If you want something for free, try DiskSalv. While it doesn't format (you will have to use the DOS Format cmd for that), it will read every block on the disk. QuarteBack Tools also has a function to check a disk's blocks (and attempt to recover any files that contain them, if you want). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- These words be mine. The company doesn't care, because I am the company! :-) Dave Lowrey | david@starsoft or {uhnix1,lobster}!starsoft!david Starbound Software Group | Houston, TX | "Dare to be stupid!" -- Weird Al Yankovic
davego@polari.UUCP (dave oliphant) (01/06/91)
In article <JKH.91Jan4013822@bambam.pcs.com> jkh@bambam.pcs.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) writes: >Yes, like most folks, I'm occasionally tempted by lower cost disk >deals and have about 5 boxes of off-brand specials. For the most part, >I've had good luck, but have occasionally have been bitten rather >badly. The AmigaDOS format command seems to be virtually useless for >finding bad sectors (I'd be very interested to know what it means when >it says "verifying") and I've been racking my fish archive looking for >something that REALLY formats and verifies a disk. Sure, disks can go >bad at any time, but I'd like to at least weed out the initially bad ones >and/or be able to verify whether or not a disk has truly "gone bad" before >I give it the old heave-ho. >Can someone help this poor fool? Well, this old fool here seems to think that the AmigaDOS format command REALLY does format and verify just fine. As a person who seems to attract a good portion of the bad disks out there, I have found that if AmigaDOS format says a disk is bad, it is. What I think it means to verify is that the format command writes data from a buffer in memory to a track on the disk, then it reads the just-written data back into another buffer in memory and compares the two buffers. If they match, it was a good write. If not, some error occured. I also use a pd backup program called TurboBackup, version 1.00, (22 Apr 88), written by Steffen Stempel and Martin Kopp, that is the fastest disk copier (non-copyprotected) I have used. It takes about 105 seconds to copy with verify. There is no non-verify copy option. This program seems to me to be as good as AmigaDOS format in catching bad sectors. I have tried another program called BFormat (don't know the author) which porported to format disks with bad sectors. It did this by first determining which sectors were bad, and then marking the sector bitmap as used for all the tracks with bad sectors. However, I found that the bad disks I formatted with BFormat would not store files reliably, but all would fail eventually. w -- davego@polari.UUCP Dave G. Oliphant "Just where is dave going, anyway?" (206) 325-5669 2d ACR - Always Ready! (I'm with you guys) send the scouts out
yorkw@stable.ecn.purdue.edu (Willis F York) (01/08/91)
davego@polari.UUCP (dave oliphant) writes: >In article <JKH.91Jan4013822@bambam.pcs.com> jkh@bambam.pcs.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) writes: >I have tried another program called BFormat (don't know the author) which >porported to format disks with bad sectors. It did this by first determining >which sectors were bad, and then marking the sector bitmap as used for all >the tracks with bad sectors. However, I found that the bad disks I formatted >with BFormat would not store files reliably, but all would fail eventually. I regallary use Bformat, (I like the comand syntax better then format} and if it finds a bad block (sector?) it;ll mark it as used.. however.... My main problem with disks is DUST.. so Bformat will mark the "bad" sector, then the dust particial/hair/ect will have moved to a diffrent place the second time i run the program.. I have found that if ya run bformat about 3 times and get no errors then the disk is darn good. (Silly i know) of late i've been having mega-disks going bad. (Bummer) what i want is a disk-copy program that'll copy from df0: (Or df1:) to RAD: without me having to type return and not bothering to varaify RAD: (To speed it up) Well just my .02$ . -- yorkw@ecn.purdue.edu Willis F York ---------------------------------------------- Macintosh... Proof that a Person can use a Computer all day and still not know ANYTHING about computers.
warren@hpindda.cup.hp.com (Warren Burnett) (01/10/91)
/ hpindda:comp.sys.amiga / yorkw@stable.ecn.purdue.edu (Willis F York) / 12:34 pm Jan 7, 1991 / davego@polari.UUCP (dave oliphant) writes: >In article <JKH.91Jan4013822@bambam.pcs.com> jkh@bambam.pcs.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) writes: >>I have tried another program called BFormat (don't know the author) which >>porported to format disks with bad sectors. It did this by first determining >>which sectors were bad, and then marking the sector bitmap as used for all >>the tracks with bad sectors. However, I found that the bad disks I formatted >>with BFormat would not store files reliably, but all would fail eventually. > >I regallary use Bformat, (I like the comand syntax better then format} >and if it finds a bad block (sector?) it;ll mark it as used.. >however.... My main problem with disks is DUST.. >so Bformat will mark the "bad" sector, then the dust particial/hair/ect >will have moved to a diffrent place the second time i run the program.. > As I remember, this was discussed about a year or so ago. I believe that this is unreliable because AmigaDOS reads and writes entire tracks, not just individual sectors. When a sector gets changed, the entire track is re-written starting from wherever the disc is rotationally. So a given sector will not always reside at the same physical location on its track. Simply marking a sector as used will not guarantee that the bad area on the disc will never be written to. Warren Burnett warren@hpindda.cup.hp.com