sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) (01/11/88)
In article <2392@swan.ulowell.edu> page@swan.ulowell.edu (Bob Page) writes: >First of all, I'd like to see CBM change the requester - advocating >the use of DISKDOCTOR is just asking for trouble. I have never, ever, had Diskdoctor save a disk or a single file for that matter. Every single time I have run it, without exeception, it has done no good at all. Sometimes, it actually makes things worse. I checked, and my copy of Diskdoctor is a good one. On the other hand, Disksalv just recently saved a disk for the 11th time. Hurray for disksalv! Commodore should distribute it with their machines. What I'd *really* like to see is something like fsck that would repair a disk in place, instead of having to copy the files. A feature I'd *really* *really* like to see would be for such a program to reformat bad tracks, and if they are truly bad (oxide problems), create a file called "BAD_TRACK_##". The file's blocks would be those of the bad track, and it would have write permission disabled. Question: Would the validator grok this? Normally, I toss out bad disks, but if they were partly usable, they would be great to have around for those times when I run out of blank floppies. I could use them as temp disks for stuff until I could get it on a good disk. I would be willing to pay some $$ for such a utility. Sean -- -- Sean Casey sean@ms.uky.edu, sean@ukma.bitneT -- (the Empire guy) {rutgers,uunet,cbosgd}!ukma!sean -- University of Kentucky in Lexington Kentucky, USA -- "If something can go will, it wrong."
page@swan.ulowell.edu (Bob Page) (01/13/88)
sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) wrote: >On the other hand, Disksalv just recently saved a disk for the 11th time. Eleven times? Time for a new disk! >What I'd *really* like to see is something like fsck that would repair a >disk in place, instead of having to copy the files. That's what DiskDoctor is supposed to do. It's not easy, in any case. I agree it's needed, especially now that we're starting to see 40MB disks and larger on the Amiga. >A feature I'd *really* *really* like to see would be for such a program >to reformat bad tracks, and if they are truly bad (oxide problems), create >a file called "BAD_TRACK_##". The file's blocks would be those of the bad >track, and it would have write permission disabled. I think that would have to be a different program (that formats the tracks) since an 'fsck' type utility would be used for reading & moving mostly. The only problem with this approach is that you lose if you FORMAT it or use DiskCopy or something, which doesn't look at the bitmap and scribbles all over the disk. >Question: Would the validator grok this? I don't see why not. Just mung the disk and say "hey, validate this." ..Bob -- Bob Page, U of Lowell CS Dept. page@ulowell.edu ulowell!page "I've never liked reality all that much, but I haven't found a better solution." --Dave Haynie, Commodore-Amiga
sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) (01/13/88)
In article <2412@swan.ulowell.edu> page@swan.ulowell.edu (Bob Page) writes: >sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) wrote: >>On the other hand, Disksalv just recently saved a disk for the 11th time. > >Eleven times? Time for a new disk! Oops I said that wrong. It has saved 11 disks to date. So far, I've never gotten any bad media (I get mostly Sony). The only disks I've managed to permanently clobber are one I spilled Mello Yello on, and one that I intentionally dissected so I could see the insides. Just recently, my computer refused to boot my favorite Workbench disk, and didn't boot my backup. After messing around with disksalv and an hour and a half of cursing disk errors, I finally suspected the drive. I turned off the computer for about 30 seconds, turned it back on and things worked fine. Ugh. Sean -- -- Sean Casey sean@ms.uky.edu, sean@ukma.bitneT -- (the Empire guy) {rutgers,uunet,cbosgd}!ukma!sean -- University of Kentucky in Lexington Kentucky, USA -- "If something can go will, it wrong."
cks@radio.toronto.edu (Chris Siebenmann) (01/24/88)
In article <8020@g.ms.uky.edu> sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) writes: ... >What I'd *really* like to see is something like fsck that would repair a >disk in place, instead of having to copy the files. It would also be nice if it had an option to just tell me (in as much detail as it knows) exactly what's wrong, so I can go and fix it myself. I don't really trust programs that write to a damaged disk; especially if it's only a small problem, I'd much rather fix it myself. -- "I shall clasp my hands together and bow to the corners of the world." Number Ten Ox, "Bridge of Birds" Chris Siebenmann {allegra,mnetor,decvax,pyramid}!utgpu!radio!cks cks@radio.toronto.edu or ...!utgpu!{chp!hak!ziebmef,ontmoh}!cks