larsm@eik.ii.uib.no (Lars Magnus Nordeide) (06/24/91)
I saw some time ago a request for help from a guy who had the infamous
'Key XXXXX already set' error, reported from the disk-validator on his
hard-disk. The reply he got was that he could use Quarterback tools to
fix this without losing information on the hard-disk.
What I would like to know is, if there is a PD/Shareware program which
can do the same thing. I already have DiskSalv1.3, and FixDisk. DiskSalv
cannot be used on hard-disks (can it?). Fixdisk can, but unfortunatly
only on max 40Mb partitions. I have an 80Mb disk, no partions. ("What?",
I hear you say).
Another thing, is it normal that such an error or similar occurs if the
machine crashes when writing to the hard-disk? If that is the case, it
seems to me a bit unstable. I know a crash would make the file that was
written to incomplete, but shouldn't that result in a corrupt file
rather than a whole disk. (What is the point with the validator?) Or
have I got a hardware problem?
In my case this is happening every time my Amiga is crashing while
writing to the disk. (And that's not seldom!) I have an Amiga 2000 model
A, KickStart 1.2 (You're right, no autoboot. I haven't gotten around to
get the 1.3 yet, but I should do it soon.), GVP Series II + 8 with
Seagate 80Mb drive.
Can anyone help?
advTHANKSance
=====================================================================
Lars Magnus Nordeide | I want to be famous, but Famous
University of Bergen | doesn't want to be me.
NORWAY |
larsm@eik.ii.uib.no | Well, who would actually?
=====================================================================daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) (06/28/91)
In article <1991Jun24.150553.25949@eik.ii.uib.no> larsm@eik.ii.uib.no (Lars Magnus Nordeide) writes: >I already have DiskSalv1.3, and FixDisk. DiskSalv cannot be used on >hard-disks (can it?). Of course it can. You're better off with V1.42, which is the latest release. DiskSalv is not a "fix-in-place" tool, however, but a recovery tool. It'll get whatever it can off your troubled disk, but it won't attempt to modify, fix, or destroy your troubled disk. This works real well if you have two similarly sized disks, but it can be annoying when you need to recover your 1.23GB hard disk (all one partition) to floppies. >Another thing, is it normal that such an error or similar occurs if the >machine crashes when writing to the hard-disk? It can happen. It depends on what's taking place during the crash. >If that is the case, it seems to me a bit unstable. Without memory protection, there's no way around this. Non-multitasking systems can be a bit more stable in this respect, since nothing is running during a write to disk. But any non-protected system offers the chance for some kind of corruption to crash the disk. >I know a crash would make the file that was written to incomplete, but >shouldn't that result in a corrupt file rather than a whole disk. It depends on what was being written at the point of the crash. Obviously, a partially written data block isn't a problem, but if the FileSystem is in the process of modifying a file header or directory block when you crash, that file header or directory, and the surrounding disk structure, may be damaged. >(What is the point with the validator?) The validator walks the directory tree to rebuild the FileSystem's bitmap. It can thereby reclaim any data blocks that were allocated by a file write operation that didn't complete. However, it doesn't know how to deal with a corrupt data block. There's no easy answer, believe me, I've been hacking around with this stuff since '85. You really need a system of small expert systems to determine whether an invalid block contains useful information or not. That's essentially what DiskSalv does, and will do even better if I ever get time to complete V2.00 (hoping this year, but not betting heavily on it just yet). >Or have I got a hardware problem? Probably not, but... >In my case this is happening every time my Amiga is crashing while >writing to the disk. What's causing the crash? Crashes don't "just happen", something causes them. Usually it's a bad program. The fix, in such a case, is to find the bad program and stop using it. Some programs don't cause the crash directly, but instead trash something that's then encountered by the next program to come along. So examine your environment very, very carefully. If you have eliminated all software-influenced possibilities, you may have to consider the chance that you have some kind of marginal hardware. -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy "I looked for it and I found it" -R.E.M.