bollard@hpspkla.spk.hp.com (Lee M. Bollard) (09/27/90)
My ST4096 Seagate disk shows bad SYSTEM sectors every time I try using Spinrite on it. Even when doing a DOS format it says "disk unusable" but I'm able to get it to work after dinking around a bit. Weird thing is that it works FINE until I TEST IT!! (maybe I should quit testing it) To REPLACE the drive....am I safe in buying an IDE drive? Are they stable and compatible enough yet? Which one is best in the 100meg range? --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | Lee Bollard unix: bollard@hpspkla.spk.hp.com | | Hewlett-Packard HPDesk: Lee BOLLARD / HP1000/53 | | Spokane Division Compuserve: 72105,423 | | (509)921-4608 | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------
elec135@canterbury.ac.nz (09/28/90)
In article <6470005@hpspkla.spk.hp.com>, bollard@hpspkla.spk.hp.com (Lee M. Bollard) writes: > My ST4096 Seagate disk shows bad SYSTEM sectors every time I try using > Spinrite on it. Even when doing a DOS format it says "disk unusable" > but I'm able to get it to work after dinking around a bit. Weird thing > is that it works FINE until I TEST IT!! (maybe I should quit testing it) a bad track can be skipped over by software, unless it is track zero, which holds initial bootup junk, etc.. i've found problems when someone has unsucessfully tried to get a drive going, failed, and then put it aside, with the heads unparked (and over the first track!). a fixit that i have used, rather than throwing out the drive, is to move the position sensors that fix where the tracks are. these are usually not too difficult to get at, usually outside the sealed casing; even if they are inside, you don't have much to loose. just move them a bit either way; all you need is the first track ok. if it works, sell the drive quickly :-) rob Robert Rozee, EEE Department, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. ROZEE@ELEC.CANTERBURY.AC.NZ
dlow@hpspcoi.HP.COM (Danny Low) (09/29/90)
>My ST4096 Seagate disk shows bad SYSTEM sectors every time I try using >Spinrite on it. >To REPLACE the drive....am I safe in buying an IDE drive? Are they stable >and compatible enough yet? Which one is best in the 100meg range? If you replace the ST4096 with an IDE drive you will have to replace the disk controller as well. IDE drives require IDE controllers. IDE drives should be quite compatible with existing software. Quantum makes nice IDE drives. The only problem is making sure your ROM BIOS supports the IDE drive you buy. This means making sure that there is a drive type in your ROM BIOS for the drive. There is no standard for drive type numbers. Some common drives (e.g. ST225) have the same drive type number on different systems but there is no guarantee that this holds true for the lesser known drives. Danny Low "Question Authority and the Authorities will question You" Valley of Hearts Delight, Silicon Valley HP SPCD dlow%hpspcoi@hplabs.hp.com ...!hplabs!hpspcoi!dlow
srm@dimacs.rutgers.edu (Scott R. Myers) (10/08/90)
In article <1640142@hpspcoi.HP.COM> dlow@hpspcoi.HP.COM (Danny Low) writes: > >My ST4096 Seagate disk shows bad SYSTEM sectors every time I try using > >Spinrite on it. > >To REPLACE the drive....am I safe in buying an IDE drive? Are they stable > >and compatible enough yet? Which one is best in the 100meg range? > > If you replace the ST4096 with an IDE drive you will have to replace the > disk controller as well. IDE drives require IDE controllers. IDE drives > should be quite compatible with existing software. Quantum makes nice > IDE drives. The only problem is making sure your ROM BIOS supports > the IDE drive you buy. This means making sure that there is a drive type > in your ROM BIOS for the drive. There is no standard for drive type > numbers. Some common drives (e.g. ST225) have the same drive type > number on different systems but there is no guarantee that this holds > true for the lesser known drives. > I use a Conner 200mb drive with a controller by SVC (Silicon Valley Computer). I think they're out of Santa Clara. My system BIOS will not support the drive directly but the controller card with it's on BIOS provides support for the drive. It does some type of translation to the System BIOS. I don't know the details but I do know it works quite well. Give them a ring. If you kneed the number give me a (e-mail) ring and I'll dig it up for you. srm -- Scott R. Myers Snail: 26 Stiles Street Phone:(201)352-4162 Apartment 18 Elizabeth, NJ 07201 Arpa: srm@dimacs.rutgers.edu Uucp: ..!dimacs!srm "... No matter where you go, there you are ..."