tedm@agora.rain.com (Ted Mittelstaedt) (06/03/91)
Hello Netters!
I have a 386SX clone that I am installing a Western Digital WD93044-A
IDE hard disk, and I am using a Kouwell KW-554C interface card (controller
card) I have an AMI BIOS on the motherboard, that contains a number of useless
HD drive types, and (luckily) a user definable drive type.
I currently have the user-defined drive type set as 782 Cylinders, 4 Heads,
0 WPrecomp, 781 as Landing ZOne and 27 Sectors, giving me a grand total of
41 Megs available on the drive.
My question is, is it possible to specify a higher number of Sectors to get me
more drive space? How many sectors is it possible to put on a IDE drive?
I read somewhere that you cannot get more than 17 sectors on a MFM drive, and
31 sectors on a RLL drive, and with a special controller, you can get more
sectors. In addition, is there such a thing as a low-level formatting program
for an IDE drive (please don't tell me to use Spinrite, I want to KEEP USING
my drive, not ruin it), and is it necessary?
I have tried calling WesternDigital, but could not get through.
Thanks, tedm@agora.rain.com