ralph@laas.fr (Ralph P. Sobek) (05/14/91)
It is true, other than real cheapo's, the defective floppy disk can be returned to the dealer. (Do you all save all your receipts? :-) Still, which formatters on the Atari do at least verify the formatted disk? Especially, MS-DOS compatible formatters; you get 4 extra sectors for free! The only time I detected a defective floppy instantly was when Sector 0 was defective! Otherwise, you slowly fill up the floppy disk until you come to the defective spot. ;-( It would be nice to know that fact when the disk was formatted. -- Ralph P. Sobek Disclaimer: The above ruminations are my own. ralph@laas.fr Addresses are ordered by importance. ralph@laas.uucp, or ...!uunet!laas!ralph If all else fails, try: sobek@eclair.Berkeley.EDU =============================================================================== Proud owner of a Mega 4 ST. Wishing it was a Mega STe! :-|
csbrod@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Claus Brod) (05/14/91)
ralph@laas.fr (Ralph P. Sobek) writes: >It is true, other than real cheapo's, the defective floppy disk can be >returned to the dealer. (Do you all save all your receipts? :-) >Still, which formatters on the Atari do at least verify the formatted >disk? Especially, MS-DOS compatible formatters; you get 4 extra >sectors for free! Hyperformat and PumpUp (two formatters written by yours truly) verify and mark bad spots. The Desktop formatter does this, too. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Claus Brod, Am Felsenkeller 2, Things. Take. Time. D-8772 Marktheidenfeld, West Germany (Piet Hein) csbrod@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de Claus Brod@wue.maus.de ----------------------------------------------------------------------
ytsuji@wucc.waseda.ac.jp (Y.Tsuji) (05/14/91)
In article <RALPH.91May14111833@orion.laas.fr>, ralph@laas.fr (Ralph P. Sobek) writes: > It is true, other than real cheapo's, the defective floppy disk can be > returned to the dealer. (Do you all save all your receipts? :-) Some disks have labels that says "lifetime guarantee", i.e. they can be changed without a receipt. We return the defective products to the manufac- turers here. And they know when the lot went to the market and determine if the floppy hasn't been used long. > Still, which formatters on the Atari do at least verify the formatted > disk? Especially, MS-DOS compatible formatters; you get 4 extra > sectors for free! Very few formatters (such as those that come with a disk editor) have their own routine for the actual formatting. Most of the formatters simply feed arbitrary parameters to a TOS formattng routine, which does the verify. > > The only time I detected a defective floppy instantly was when Sector > 0 was defective! Otherwise, you slowly fill up the floppy disk until > you come to the defective spot. ;-( It would be nice to know that > fact when the disk was formatted. Fortunately maybe, I have never experienced using a defective disk in my life (since 1980 when I bought my own single sided 8" disks). I heard people like to spread dust (tiny rocks, they are) over their disks, use very poor drive mechanism, or are unaware of the insufficient power supply to the drive mechanism. I have experienced cases where read/write failed but neither the floppy nor the drive mechanism was to blame: the write current of previous head was too strong for the second write current to override. As long as we use the same type of drive mechanism with adequate and stable power supply, that can be avoided. (the rest deleted) Y Tsuji ("I 've got only one person who has positively responded to my appeal for a beta tester of an HD drive project!")
ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu (Ed Krimen) (05/16/91)
In article <RALPH.91May14111833@orion.laas.fr> ralph@laas.fr (Ralph P. Sobek) writes: >It is true, other than real cheapo's, the defective floppy disk can be >returned to the dealer. (Do you all save all your receipts? :-) I don't know what you mean by 'real cheapo's.' :^) I guess you could say I buy the real cheapos from MEI Micro. But when I get a disk with a bad sector, which is rare, I just call them up and they send me a new one, free. Their disks are 39cents each in lots of 25. It costs me around $20 for 50. Their number is 800-634-3478. Ask them to send you a catalog. I've been buying my disks from them for years. >Still, which formatters on the Atari do at least verify the formatted >disk? Especially, MS-DOS compatible formatters; you get 4 extra >sectors for free! DC Format 3.02 does verify and marks the bad sectors. -- ||| Ed Krimen [ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu or al661@cleveland.freenet.edu] ||| Video Production Major, California State University, Chico / | \ SysOp, Fuji BBS: 916-894-1261 TWO WEEKS UNTIL GRADUATION!!