bdeskin@cognos.uucp (Bob Deskin) (05/06/88)
A week ago I posted a question about what happens to 2K when formatting a floppy disk. That is, formatting a single sided disk gives you 349K whereas the calculation 80 tracks times 9 sectors (720) less 1 boot sector, 2 FATs at 5 sectors each, and a directory of 7 sectors (18) leaves 702 sectors or 351K. I have since been told that this is an old GEMDOS bug where GEMDOS "looses" 2K or 4 sectors. It explains why most RAM disks I have provide 2K less than what's asked for. Can anyone confirm this bug (Atari???) and is it fixed in the new ROMs. Thanks in advance. -- Bob Deskin decvax!utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!bdeskin Cognos Incorporated P.O. Box 9707 (613) 738-1440 3755 Riverside Dr. Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA, K1G 3Z4
good@atari.UUCP (Roy Good) (05/10/88)
In article <2936@cognos.UUCP>, bdeskin@cognos.uucp (Bob Deskin) writes: > A week ago I posted a question about what happens to 2K when formatting a > floppy disk. [...deleted...] > I have since been told that this is an old GEMDOS bug where GEMDOS > "loses" 2K or 4 sectors. [...deleted...] > Can anyone confirm this bug (Atari???) and is it fixed in the new ROMs. It is an old GEMDOS problem, and it was fixed in an interim version of the forthcoming ROMs. However, the fix has been backed out due to potentially serious loss of data due to incompatibility problems when disks with the extra 2K get used on systems with old ROMs. The Release Notes will have a full explanation. The unused space amounts to a VERY small percentage of available disk space, even on the lowest capacity floppy drive. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy J. Good Product Development, Atari Corporation Views expressed are my own. Atari may agree or disagree; they have the right. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
juancho@dgp.toronto.edu (John Buchanan) (05/12/88)
In article <1058@atari.UUCP> good@atari.UUCP (Roy Good) writes: >In article <2936@cognos.UUCP>, bdeskin@cognos.uucp (Bob Deskin) writes: >> A week ago I posted a question about what happens to 2K when formatting a >> floppy disk. [...deleted...] >> I have since been told that this is an old GEMDOS bug where GEMDOS >> "loses" 2K or 4 sectors. [...deleted...] >> Can anyone confirm this bug (Atari???) and is it fixed in the new ROMs. > >It is an old GEMDOS problem, and it was fixed in an interim version of the >forthcoming ROMs. However, the fix has been backed out due to potentially >serious loss of data due to incompatibility problems when disks with the I for one would be pleased to reformat all my disks if you fix this. I would not be to concerned about compatibility, rather more about correctness. After all if we were concerned with compatibility we would still be working with cards on a IBM machine. (WHat a THOUght) >----------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Roy J. Good Keep up the good work. ===================================================================== | Typical conversation on comp.[atari|amiga|mac].* | ===================================================================== My watch is better than yours. It has multitasking, windows and plays Old macdonald has a farm. I will not listen to reason, of course your watch is not as good as mine, in fact you are silly for having bought it. Sell it and buy my kind. o / ====X================================================================ o \ John W. Buchanan Dynamic Graphics Project Computer Systems Research Institute (416) 978-6619 University of Toronto juancho@dgp.toronto.edu juancho@toronto.CSNET {allegra,cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo}!utdgp!juancho