jones@uv4.eglin.af.mil (Calvin Jones, III) (10/09/89)
Ken Steele <kms@uncecs.edu> asks: > Two questions: > 1) Many hard disks now come with an autopark feature. > Is there any functional difference between the autopark > when the power is turned off versus using a park > utility and then turning power off? That is, given a choice, > is one method better (longer disk life, etc)? You don't get a choice (except when you buy the hard drive). If the drive will auto-park at power-off, that will override any software park program. And you can't forget to park it (unless you forget to turn the power off!) The programs that park the drive for you are each different, and I can't offer any specifics on them. Some just move the head to the highest available cylinder in the selected partition --- not great if you specify anything but the innermost partition on your drive! Others may be more intelligent, and may be able to move the head assembly beyond the data area on the disk. > 2) I noticed an undocumented file on my GVP disk called > GVPParkHD. I assume it is a park utility. Any GVP owners > been using it? I tried it once and got a corrupted disk, BUT > that was probably my fault. However, I have been a little > hesitant to try it again. Sorry, I can't help on this one. > Ken ____ HOBBIT / / / 340 Meg Online HOLE / / / 12/24/9600HST bps AMIGA: ____ / / / Exclusively Amiga \ \ \/ / / "Best Amiga BBS in FL" The computer for the BEST of us! \ \ \/ / May, 1989 Final List(tm) \_\_\/ A comfortable place to meet -------------------------------------- Cal Jones, Sysop. 904-243-6219 24Hrs
bear@bu-pub.bu.edu (Blair M. Burtan) (10/10/89)
Does anyone have the source code to a park program? I'd really like to write a resident parker that will park the disk every 5 minutes, say. Kinda like a screen blanker. Now here's a techy question. I've used both the Microbotics Stardrive and the Supra controllers. The Supra parker parks the heads and deactivates the drive i.e. stops the disks while the Stardrive just parks the heads. Is there any benefit to stopping the disks? - Bear