[comp.sys.amiga.misc] Need to make HD validate

bevis@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Jeff Bevis) (05/01/91)

Well, during some heavy disk activity tonight (involving much reading and
writing simultaneously), my system crashed.  Now, I can't seem to the
second partition of my HD to validate.  Any suggestions?  (In desperation,
I used DiskDoctor, to no avail).  I DON'T WANT to have to reformat.  Is
there a program out there that'll put the disk back into shape?  I don't
care if I lose files.  I can reload them from backup.

-bevis

-- 
+---------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
|Jeff Bevis / Purdue EE     |      Three is never equal to four, except       |
|bevis@ecn.purdue.edu       |        for very large values of three...        |
+---------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+

tomb@hplsla.HP.COM (Tom Bruhns) (05/02/91)

bevis@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Jeff Bevis) writes:

>Well, during some heavy disk activity tonight (involving much reading and
>writing simultaneously), my system crashed.  Now, I can't seem to the
>second partition of my HD to validate.  Any suggestions?  (In desperation,
>I used DiskDoctor, to no avail).  I DON'T WANT to have to reformat.  Is
>there a program out there that'll put the disk back into shape?  I don't
>care if I lose files.  I can reload them from backup.

Well, my experience with a similar problem:  I had started to get some soft
read errors occasionally, and finally got the validation failure message.
I tried DiskDoctor (I hear that it's not the best thing to use), which did
find some errors.  Still didn't validate.  Tried deleting all the files.
Still didn't validate.  Tried an Amiga-level format.  It wouldn't format.
Finally, last possible resort, re-initialized the disk (a low-level, write-
new-tracks-on-the-disk format with the software that came with the drive
interface).  That required initializing the whole disk, which meant I would
have to restore all four partitions...after AmigaDOS formatting them.  I
did all that, and after three or so months have not seen another error.

Advice:  try it by steps as I did, but be prepared to do a full
initialization, DOS-format, and restore, if you don't get it to work with
fewer steps.  Disclaimer:  this advice may be worth less than you paid for
it.

specter@disk.uucp (Byron Max Guernsey) (05/02/91)

bevis@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Jeff Bevis) writes:

>Well, during some heavy disk activity tonight (involving much reading and
>writing simultaneously), my system crashed.  Now, I can't seem to the
>second partition of my HD to validate.  Any suggestions?  (In desperation,
>I used DiskDoctor, to no avail).  I DON'T WANT to have to reformat.  Is
>there a program out there that'll put the disk back into shape?  I don't
>care if I lose files.  I can reload them from backup.

>-bevis

>-- 
>+---------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
>|Jeff Bevis / Purdue EE     |      Three is never equal to four, except       |
>|bevis@ecn.purdue.edu       |        for very large values of three...        |
>+---------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+

Sounds like you may have shut off your system right after writing or delete a
file...so you still have some type of Key Validation error. I have done this
many times. Diskdoctor always fixes it...you don't really have to reformat as
it tells you to. 

But I don't quite understand where your comming from?!?! Whats the use of 
validating the drive and losing files to restore from a backup, when you could
just reformat and restore from a backup?!?! Just take a few minutes to format
and restore from the backup rather than hours fixing it only to have to restore
from a backup anyway...unless you have files you still want on there.

Byron
-- 
Byron 'Maxwell' Guernsey                       |       ///  //\\
specter@disk.UUCP     or                       |      ///  //  \\
uunet!ukma!corpane!disk!specter                |  \\\///  //====\\
"Great programs aren't written, they're fathered." \\\/  //      \\ m i g a

mpierce@ewu.UUCP (Mathew Pierce) (05/03/91)

In article <18730001@hplsla.HP.COM>, tomb@hplsla.HP.COM (Tom Bruhns) writes:
> bevis@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Jeff Bevis) writes:
> 
> >Well, during some heavy disk activity tonight (involving much reading and
> >writing simultaneously), my system crashed.  Now, I can't seem to the
> >second partition of my HD to validate.  Any suggestions?  (In desperation,
> >I used DiskDoctor, to no avail).  I DON'T WANT to have to reformat.  Is
> >there a program out there that'll put the disk back into shape?  I don't
> >care if I lose files.  I can reload them from backup.
> 

There is a PD utility called Validate that supposedly forces disk validation,
I have it, but haven't had the opprtunity to use it.  I got mine from the
Software Distillery, but it should be on one of the Fred Fish disks.  If you
cand't find it, tell me and I'll email it to you.

-Matt Pierce

rhand@well.sf.ca.us (Roger Hand) (05/04/91)

Jeff:
You asked about a program to get your HD validated.  I used to run into that
problem every few months with my stock 2500 Rodime drive, and several times
I used DiskX, which is shareware, to fix the damage.  It's quicker than 
reformatting and restoring IF you can figure out what you're doing.  I
found out through trial and error what bits to set where to make the HD
think it was validated, etc.  But first you have to make sure you get rid
of the file that caused the problem in the first place.

Fortunately, QuarterBack Tools is out now.  It should be able to handle your
problem.  I bought it at the same time as I got a new hard drive, and, thank
goodness, I haven't needed it yet, but I hear it works real well.

-Roger    rhand@well.sf.ca.us