[comp.unix.i386] Name that disk!!!

gwe@cbnews.att.com (George W. Erhart) (06/11/90)

HELP HELP HELP

I have 2 ESDI CDC disk drives Part #94166-182. From the ads in Computer Shopper,
it appears that this is a 182 MB drive, unformatted. However, I have no
data sheets for this drive. The folks selling the things (Computer Shopper)
did not want to answer any questions without selling something ... so

	Can someone tell me the Cylinders, Sectors, Landing Zone, PreComp, etc
	for this drive so I can format the darn things?

-- 
George Erhart
AT&T Bell Laboratories
att!archie!gwe

smarc@wb3ffv.ampr.org (Marc Siegel) (06/15/90)

In article <1990Jun11.010304.19696@cbnews.att.com>, gwe@cbnews.att.com (George W. Erhart) writes:
> HELP HELP HELP
> 
> I have 2 ESDI CDC disk drives Part #94166-182. From the ads in Computer Shopper,
> it appears that this is a 182 MB drive, unformatted. However, I have no
> data sheets for this drive. The folks selling the things (Computer Shopper)
> did not want to answer any questions without selling something ... so
> 
> 	Can someone tell me the Cylinders, Sectors, Landing Zone, PreComp, etc
> 	for this drive so I can format the darn things?
> 
> -- 
> George Erhart
> AT&T Bell Laboratories
> att!archie!gwe

What you have is a Wren-3 ESDI drive. specs are:
155 Mb
969 cylinders x 9 heads
start reduced write current is not used (enter 970)
start write precomp is 128
transfer rate is 10 megabits/second
access time is 16.5 milliseconds

hope thats helpful!
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
       _                                 |   Marc Siegel
      ' )--,--,                          |   Randallstown, Maryland  
       /  /  / __.  __  _                |   {uunet}!wb3ffv!mas!smarc 
      /  /  (_(_/|_/ (_(_'               |   smarc@mas.wb3ffv.AMPR.ORG    
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+

art@pegasus.com (Art Neilson) (06/16/90)

In article <1990Jun11.010304.19696@cbnews.att.com> gwe@cbnews.att.com (George W. Erhart) writes:
>
>HELP HELP HELP
>
>I have 2 ESDI CDC disk drives Part #94166-182. From the ads in Computer Shopper,
>it appears that this is a 182 MB drive, unformatted. However, I have no
>data sheets for this drive. The folks selling the things (Computer Shopper)
>did not want to answer any questions without selling something ... so
>
>	Can someone tell me the Cylinders, Sectors, Landing Zone, PreComp, etc
>	for this drive so I can format the darn things?
>
>-- 
>George Erhart
>AT&T Bell Laboratories
>att!archie!gwe

ESDI drives use drive type 1, use your setup utility to set the type.
Many PC systems have the setup program in ROM, hitting F2 during POST
will give you the setup menu.  Your controller will get the drive
geometery from the disk, it should already have been low-level formatted
at the factory. Usually 2 cylinders are reserved for defect management,
1 cylinder contains a backup of the other for safety. These frequently
are the last 2 cylinders in the disk.  Boot DOS on your system after
setting the drive type to 1 and run debug.  At the debug - prompt enter
the command g=c800:5 this will execute the code at memory address c800:0005,
this usually is the location of the hard disk controller's low-level
format routine in ROM.  The format routine will probably inform you
regarding your disk geometery, give you the oppurtunity to modify your
defect list, let you low-level format the drive and let you enable any sector
translation modes if so desired.  Unix can usually handle the sectoring
native to the drive. After this is done you can go ahead and install
any OS or whatevers on the disk.
-- 
Arthur W. Neilson III		| ARPA: art@pegasus.com
Bank of Hawaii Tech Support	| UUCP: uunet!ucsd!nosc!pegasus!art

martin@mwtech.UUCP (Martin Weitzel) (06/17/90)

In article <1990Jun15.203721.20567@pegasus.com> art@pegasus.com (Art Neilson) writes:
:In article <1990Jun11.010304.19696@cbnews.att.com> gwe@cbnews.att.com (George W. Erhart) writes:
[about formatting ESDI disks]
:Boot DOS on your system after
:setting the drive type to 1 and run debug.  At the debug - prompt enter
:the command g=c800:5 this will execute the code at memory address c800:0005,
:this usually is the location of the hard disk controller's low-level
:format routine in ROM.

Note that this may vary with the controller. Eg. BIOS of the WD 1007
will usually be located at CC00:5. Furthermore the adress may depend
on the type of display controller (Hercules or VGA).

Maybe this is some other item to put into the FAQ-list.
-- 
Martin Weitzel, email: martin@mwtech.UUCP, voice: 49-(0)6151-6 56 83