rwm@tronix.UUCP (Russell McOrmond) (09/02/89)
I work for a dealership, and therefore do a lot of Formatting drives with
the A2090a controller card. We sometimes get drives where we do not have
a defect listing, or the listing may have been removed, and so far what we have
to do is do a defect check on a PeeCee, and then Prep/Format on the 2090. Has
any software been written to do such a check on the Amiga Itself.
In the same manner, some formatting software for the PeeCee will automatically
map out Defects while it is formatting, and does not require the entering in
of the Defect list (Which, for some large ST506 style drives, can take quite
some time). Again, has some Prep software been written for the Amiga/2090 that
will do such a function.(I find it Embarasing to have to be using the PeeCee
machines to do such a simple task. Why should there be 'anything' that the
PeeCee's can do better ;-)
P.S. How would one get ahold of CrossDos, even the Demo version. It may be
an interesting replacement for the DoubleDos that is currently sold at our
Dealership. If I could get a copy for Review, it could prove interesting. Any
information available?
:Later
--
Russell McOrmond
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I wanna POINT you in the right direction.esker@abaa.uucp (Lawrence Esker) (09/06/89)
In article <0761.AA0761@tronix> rwm@tronix.UUCP (Russell McOrmond) writes: > ... We sometimes get drives where we do not have >a defect listing, or the listing may have been removed, and so far what we have >to do is do a defect check on a PeeCee, and then Prep/Format on the 2090. Has >any software been written to do such a check on the Amiga Itself. > >In the same manner, some formatting software for the PeeCee will automatically >map out Defects while it is formatting, and does not require the entering in >of the Defect list ... >-- > Russell McOrmond Oh no! Do you mean that the Amiga Format command does NOT map out bad tracks? When I got my 2090A and ST-506 drive, the drive had a list of head and cylinders that were bad, but the prep asked for Head, Cylinder, and Offset. No where could I find what offset meant. So what to do? I blew it off and never mapped out the tracks provided by the manufacturer. When the format program got to the bad tracks, it clunked and grind for a while and then kept on going. I have never had any read/write errors on my hard drive (two partions at appx. 50 % and 90 % full). I assumed format mapped the errors. Any experts able to answer these questions for sure. 1) Does Amiga Format map out errors on hard disks? Am I sitting on a data integrity time bomb? 2) Just what is the definition of offset and how do I know what to use since my drive does not give the numbers? 3) Anyone have a simple bad map reader and modifier for the 2090A contoller. -- ---------- Lawrence W. Esker ---------- Definition: FROWN A smile with a hangover. UseNet Path: __!mailrus!sharkey!itivax!abaa!esker == esker@abaa.UUCP
mlelstv@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Michael van Elst ) (09/14/89)
esker@abaa.uucp (Lawrence Esker) writes: >In article <0761.AA0761@tronix> rwm@tronix.UUCP (Russell McOrmond) writes: >>In the same manner, some formatting software for the PeeCee will automatically >>map out Defects while it is formatting, and does not require the entering in >>of the Defect list ... >1) Does Amiga Format map out errors on hard disks? Am I sitting on a data > integrity time bomb? Amiga Format does not map out errors. If error mapping is done it is a task of the device driver. Nevertheless it could remap bad tracks on the fly during the Format program, but there would be problems with replacement track allocation AND of course bad track detection, since Format and the driver don't get any information about this. The normal thing is to remap bad tracks during the low level formatter (that is 'prep'). >2) Just what is the definition of offset and how do I know what to use since > my drive does not give the numbers? The offset is the bit position of the flaw counted from the index pulse. Anyone that knows how to convert sector number to bit position ? Michael van Elst E-mail: UUCP: ...uunet!unido!fauern!immd4!mlelstv