eahsnsr@nmt.edu (Eric A. Hobbs) (04/25/91)
Is it advisable to use Twister format with a 10 sec/track disk? Has anyone had any problems? Also, what is the correct RPM for a SS/DD disk drive? Can you adjust it easily? I have been having bad sector problems with my disks (And I use good quality disks, too.). ------------- Eric A. HOBBS! eahsnsr@jupiter.nmt.edu
boyd@nu.cs.fsu.edu (Mickey Boyd) (04/25/91)
In article <1991Apr25.021557.28026@nmt.edu>, eahsnsr@nmt.edu (Eric A. Hobbs) writes: > >Is it advisable to use Twister format with a 10 sec/track disk? >Has anyone had any problems? > I use 82 track, 10 sec/track, twisted (as offered by Universal Item Selector and Neodesk 3.0) for all floppies. Never had a problem. I have a DC utility (MAXTRAK I think), which tests your particular drive to see what the maximum format you can use is. I will put it on atari.archive if it is not there already. Remember, different drives can do different things, and Atari only guarentees 80/9 formatting. Just because I have no problems does not mean you will not. >Also, what is the correct RPM for a SS/DD disk drive? Can you adjust it >easily? 300rpm, + or - 5. > >I have been having bad sector problems with my disks (And I use good >quality disks, too.). > There are two common causes that I am familiar with. 1. You are using too "large" a format, as described above. This DC utility should tell you if that is it. 2. Do you clean your drive heads? Suprisingly, if the answer is yes that may be the problem. 3.5" drives are fairly enclosed, as are the disks, and therefore require cleaning much less regularly that the old 5.25" drives (I have never cleaned mine, in 2 years). Also, the drive head is more sensitive (due to it's increased precision). What happens is that folks that used to clean their 5.25" devices all the time purchase a "cleaning diskette" for their 3.5" drives because they feel it necessary. If this cleaning disk is of the fibrus type, it can slowly abrade and score the drive head cover (made of clear plastic) until errors start to occur. I was told to never use such a cleaning device in a modern 3.5" drive. A q-tip and some alcohol every few thousand hours is all that is needed (and I don't even do that :-). >------------- >Eric A. HOBBS! >eahsnsr@jupiter.nmt.edu -- ---------------------------------+------------------------------------- Mickey R. Boyd | "Kirk to Enterprise. All clear FSU Computer Science | down here. Beam down Technical Support Group | yeoman Rand and a six-pack . ." email: boyd@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu | ---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu (Ed Krimen) (04/25/91)
In article <1991Apr25.021557.28026@nmt.edu> eahsnsr@nmt.edu (Eric A. Hobbs) writes: > >Is it advisable to use Twister format with a 10 sec/track disk? >Has anyone had any problems? > I've been using 82 tracks/10 sectors twisted for the three years I've owned an ST. Haven't had any problems. DCMAXTRK, a PD utility by DoubleClick to determine the maximum number of tracks your drive can read and write to, says that I can go to 84 on my ST. Anyone know if it would be safe to go to 83 tracks/10 sectors twisted with this drive? I am also aware these disks may not work on another drive. >Also, what is the correct RPM for a SS/DD disk drive? Can you adjust it >easily? > I think SS and DS disks both go at 300rpm. To adjust it, I've heard that there's a small pot you can rotate. >I have been having bad sector problems with my disks (And I use good >quality disks, too.). > When I first got my ST, I bought Sonys and Maxells. Now, I only buy generic disks from MEI. -- Ed Krimen ............................................... ||| Video Production Major, California State University, Chico ||| INTERNET: ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu FREENET: al661 / | \ SysOp, Fuji BBS: 916-894-1261 FIDONET: 1:119/4.0
ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu (Ed Krimen) (04/26/91)
In article <1991Apr25.004316.13020@mailer.cc.fsu.edu> boyd@nu.cs.fsu.edu writes: > >I use 82 track, 10 sec/track, twisted (as offered by Universal Item Selector >and Neodesk 3.0) for all floppies. Never had a problem. I have a Another good utility for formatting disks with twister is Mystic. It's a desk accessory that formats in the background. I've seen other background formatters and they're not as good. It will also do 82/10 format if you want. The down-side is that it won't format with a MS-DOS boot sector. If you have two drives, you can load up two copies of Mystic (MYSTICA.ACC and MYSTICB.ACC for example) and format two disks at the same time. -- Ed Krimen ............................................... ||| Video Production Major, California State University, Chico ||| INTERNET: ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu FREENET: al661 / | \ SysOp, Fuji BBS: 916-894-1261 FIDONET: 1:119/4.0
entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu (entropy) (04/26/91)
In article <1991Apr25.170446.12243@ecst.csuchico.edu> ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu (Ed Krimen) writes: >Another good utility for formatting disks with twister is Mystic. It's a >desk accessory that formats in the background. I've seen other background Be careful, Mystic has very bad error checking. I've had Mystec format a disk with no complaints that I knew was bad (i.e. every other formatter rejected the disk). entropy -- entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu entropy. . .it's not just a good idea, it's the second law. Boycott Lotus, Apple, Ashton-Tate and Xerox. Join the League for Programming Freedom! Write to league@prep.ai.mit.edu for more information.
ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu (Ed Krimen) (04/27/91)
In article <ENTROPY.91Apr26154927@pogo.gnu.ai.mit.edu> entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu (entropy) writes: >In article <1991Apr25.170446.12243@ecst.csuchico.edu> ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu (Ed Krimen) writes: >>Another good utility for formatting disks with twister is Mystic. It's a >>desk accessory that formats in the background. I've seen other background > >Be careful, Mystic has very bad error checking. I've had Mystec >format a disk with no complaints that I knew was bad (i.e. every other >formatter rejected the disk). > Yeah, Mystic has very bad, if any, error checking. It would be nice if it had a verify button, like DC Format does, as well as some of DC Format's other features. -- Ed Krimen ............................................... ||| Video Production Major, California State University, Chico ||| INTERNET: ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu FREENET: al661 / | \ SysOp, Fuji BBS: 916-894-1261 FIDONET: 1:119/4.0