sean@watcsc.waterloo.edu (Sean Goggin) (06/27/90)
You wish to format an ST506. The rumor (what I have been told) is that since IBM sells it's drives low level formated that You can't format the drive There is a special controller that uses a increased (17something instead for 10something) current in the first few sectors that premit the special controller to write the format stuff (drive data?) on a degraded media. I think the ST506 was sold by ibm, as there first drive for the pc with a st4xx as a high end version (10Meg). This is rumor as far as I am concerned but it may be true and maybe someone can comment on it. Sean -- SADGoggin...SEC:001................+1.519.746.6036....sean@watcsc.uwaterloo.ca..
tindle@ms.uky.edu (Ken Tindle) (06/28/90)
In article <1990Jun27.081105.18539@watcsc.waterloo.edu> sean@watcsc.waterloo.edu (Sean Goggin) writes: >You wish to format an ST506. Yep. >The rumor (what I have been told) is that since IBM sells it's >drives low level formated that You can't format the drive Let me start by saying that I'm not absolutely sure of the following, but that I'm reasonably sure... Yes, IBM sells the drives low-level formatted already, but this is to set interleave at optimum. >There is a special controller that uses a increased >(17something instead for 10something) >current in the first few sectors that premit the special controller to >write the format stuff (drive data?) on a degraded media. Well, if true, that's very nasty- but I think not, because- - The ST-506 is used in lots of different machines, and they are certainly not all MS-DOS, and - IBM *does* include a formatter on its Advanced Diagnostics disk. >I think the ST506 was sold by ibm, as there first drive for the pc >with a st4xx as a high end version (10Meg). Really? I didn't know they *ever* had anything less than 10 Meg. --------------------------\ /----------------------------------------------- INTERNET:tindle@ms.uky.edu | "Could you please continue the petty bickering? BITNET: tindle@ukma.bitnet | I find it most intriguing." --- Data, Ken Tindle - Lexington, KY | Star Trek, The Next Generation, "Haven" --------------------------/ \-----------------------------------------------
gerten@uklirb.informatik.uni-kl.de (Rainer Gerten) (06/28/90)
In article <1990Jun27.081105.18539@watcsc.waterloo.edu> sean@watcsc.waterloo.edu (Sean Goggin) writes: >You wish to format an ST506. >The rumor (what I have been told) is that since IBM sells it's >drives low level formated that You can't format the drive >There is a special controller that uses a increased >(17something instead for 10something) >current in the first few sectors that premit the special controller to >write the format stuff (drive data?) on a degraded media. >I think the ST506 was sold by ibm, as there first drive for the pc >with a st4xx as a high end version (10Meg). The controller for the IBM XT, for the AT and for the PS/2 (50,55,60,80) have the low-level-formatter in the rom-bios for the disk (on the controller or built in). In the PC/AT-Line this low-level-formatter is activated with the debugger or the advanced-diagnose-diskette. On the PS/2 there is a menu on the reference disk, activated by CTRL-A in the main menu. With that, you can low-level format your disk as often as you like. Greetings. Rainer Gerten University of Kaiserslautern mail: gerten@uklirb.informatik.uni-kl.de