scjones@sdrc.UUCP (Larry Jones) (03/24/90)
I need some information about the low-level format on PC type hard disks. I need to know how to convert from a byte count after index that's shown on the disk's bad track map to a sector number so I can mark the bad sector rather than marking the entire track as bad. Why? Well, it's because I've got this whopping big ESDI drive with 53 sectors per track, 15 heads, and 1630 cylinders with about 40 bad spots, and a Unix operating system that can't handle more than 512 bad sectors on a disk. Not to mention the fact that I cringe every time I think about wasting 52 sectors just 'cause one is bad! I tried calling Western Digital's tech support (I'm using a WD1007 controller, if that matters), but they said they never had anyone ask that question before, had no idea what the answer was, didn't know how to find it, and couldn't even tell me what exactly the low-level format looked like. So much for tech support. If all else fails, some of the bad spots are bad enough that I get permanent errors on them, so I can just do a least squares curve fit and go with that! ---- Larry Jones UUCP: uunet!sdrc!scjones SDRC scjones@SDRC.UU.NET 2000 Eastman Dr. BIX: ltl Milford, OH 45150-2789 AT&T: (513) 576-2070 "You know how Einstein got bad grades as a kid? Well MINE are even WORSE!" -Calvin