[comp.sys.mac.hardware] Hard Disk Prob., Boomerang ok?

harlanp@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Pete Harlan) (01/11/90)

Disk First Aid says, "Unable to verify status of disk."

SUM II finds no problems at all with it.

I can't seem to read in files that I save on it, so there is a problem.

My question is, what to do?  This is an Apple Quantum 40Mb drive in a
Mac II running 6.0.2 with 5Mb.  I suppose I shall just back up and
reformat the drive and see if it gets any better.

Incidentally (perhaps) the first symptom was that Boomerang (recently
downloaded) would no longer come up in the control panel.  It worked
for maybe a week.

This wouldn't be suspect, except a couple of months ago Boomerang did
the same thing (wouldn't come up) and I had to trash it.  If everyone
is having similar problems with Boomerang, perhaps Boomerang is also
trashing my disk.  If nobody else is having problems with Boomerang (a
teriffic program) then it is more likely that Boomerang is sitting on
a spot of crud on my hard disk.  I guess.

Any ideas?

Pete Harlan
harlanp@silver.ucs.indiana.edu
[BTW, send email or followup -- I _do_ read this newsgroup, or I
wouldn't post here!]

scotth@tekcrl.LABS.TEK.COM (Scott R. Herzinger) (01/13/90)

In article <32814@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> harlanp@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Pete Harlan) writes:
>Disk First Aid says, "Unable to verify status of disk."
>If everyone
>is having similar problems with Boomerang, perhaps Boomerang is also
>trashing my disk.  If nobody else is having problems with Boomerang (a
>teriffic program) then it is more likely that Boomerang is sitting on
>a spot of crud on my hard disk.  I guess.

I had (have?) a similar problem, and Boomerang is the only thing that
I've not eliminated as a problem source.  I had installed Boomerang 2.0
(non-beta version), and not long after started crashing from a lot of
system errors.  Same message from Disk First Aid, and much anomalous
behavior from previously well-behaved software.  

I ended up reformatting my drive and reintroducing software in various
combinations, trying to isolate the problem.  I didn't manage to finish
before Boomerang was only candidate left.  At that point, in order
to get on with more productive activities, I decided I could get along
without Boomerang, so I've never bothered to confirm Boomerang as the
culprit.

I used a couple of Boomerang beta releases without noticing a problem.

Scott
--
Scott Herzinger   scotth%crl.labs.tek.com@relay.cs.net
                  Computer Research Lab, Tektronix, Inc.
                  PO Box 500 MS 50-662, Beaverton, OR 97077

Armadillo@cup.portal.com (Russ Armadillo Coffman) (01/14/90)

>to get on with more productive activities, I decided I could get along
>without Boomerang, so I've never bothered to confirm Boomerang as the
>culprit.
>
>I used a couple of Boomerang beta releases without noticing a problem.
>
>Scott

Every now and then Boomerang eats itself. The newer versions do this less
frequently, but I have had 2.0 do it once. Replacing Boomerang with a fresh
copy has always cured the problem for me. I keep such a copy in a folder
right next to the Boomerang in use. Replace the Boomerang Prefs, too - not
sure which is getting corrupted. -Russ

6600bike@hub.UUCP (Puneet Pasrich) (01/18/90)

From article <32814@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>, by harlanp@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Pete Harlan):
> Incidentally (perhaps) the first symptom was that Boomerang (recently
> downloaded) would no longer come up in the control panel.  It worked
> for maybe a week.
That was a noted problem in older versions of boomerang.  With his newer
releases, the author (can't remember his name from the top of my head)
made a "preferences" file.  Boomerang still does crash occasionally,
meaning that it dies.  I just unstuff an archive and continue working.
Something to do with hitting 'cmd-.' too quickly when opening an SF
Dialog box.  I know Boomer isn't causing problems of your hard drive.
It DOES crash iteslf, though.  I don't know why your drive is acting
weird.
  ___________________________________________________________
  |Puneet Pasrich  |  Internet:  6600bike@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu  |
  |Karate Kid      |  Bitnet:    6600bike@ucsbuxa.bitnet    |
  |'Just do it!'   |                                        |

harlan@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Pete Harlan) (01/19/90)

In article <3634@hub.UUCP> 6600bike@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (Puneet Pasrich) writes:
| From harlanp@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Pete Harlan):
| > Incidentally (perhaps) the first symptom was that Boomerang (recently
| > downloaded) would no longer come up in the control panel.  It worked
| > for maybe a week.
|
| That was a noted problem in older versions of boomerang.  With his newer
| releases, the author (can't remember his name from the top of my head)
| made a "preferences" file.  Boomerang still does crash occasionally,
| meaning that it dies.  I just unstuff an archive and continue working.
| Something to do with hitting 'cmd-.' too quickly when opening an SF
| Dialog box.  I know Boomer isn't causing problems of your hard drive.
| It DOES crash iteslf, though.  I don't know why your drive is acting
| weird.

I was using a newer version of Boomerang -- I suspect it was the
preferences file that was causing the problem.  And the problem
_wasn't_ related to hitting 'cmd-.', as I virtually never do that.

However, I must say that Boomerang almost certainly wasn't the cause
of my hard drive going on the fritz -- I had many people write to me
to say that they had used Boomerang for a long time without any
troubles at all.  I am sorry if I cast any doubt in anyone's mind
about the safety of using Boomerang.  There was just an unfortunate
coincidence.

Also I was 2.0b9, and I see 2.0 is now out there, so perhaps all
problems are fixed.  I will try it again.

Pete harlan@silver.ucs.indiana.edu
"Money can't buy happiness, but now that I am happy I could sure use
the money."