Gold@DCA-EMS.ARPA (02/14/88)
We have recently discovered an MSDOS 3.X "known bug" and would like to know if anyone has a fix: Evidently DETECT cannot distinguish between a bad sector that has already been locked out by FORMAT and one that has not been locked out. Both situations give the same "Bad sectors found. Tables modified" message. This means that we cannot determine whether a hard disk's bad sectors have all been locked out or not. Multiple attempts at DETECT, FORMAT, and PREP do not help. We have many PCs that we cannot determine whether to accept or not because of this. Does anyone have a fix? --Larry Gold
nelson@CLUTX.CLARKSON.EDU (Russell Nelson) (02/14/88)
Right. DETECT is stupid. Try using the Norton Utilities's DiskTest program. If it finds any bad sectors, it will mark them. Of course, this only works on MS-DOG partitions. Also, Zenith's PREP tests the disk for a half an hour which Everex's doesn't do. So, after a PREP, your disk should be completely marked with bad sectors, and Norton's DiskTest won't find any new bad sectors. -russ