Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!usc!randvax!ucla-an!hermix!jay
From: jay@hermix.UUCP (Jay Skeer)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: How do I lock out bad sectors on a hard disk
Message-ID: <304@hermix.UUCP>
Date: 27 Jul 89 07:11:42 GMT
Organization: Mark V Systems, Ltd., Encino, Ca.
Lines: 26


I just got minix in the mail (V1.1 !!) and was building a file
system on a hard disk partition.  Although I got the partion right,
and built a file system (only smashed dos once), when I use the file
system I get errors that look sorta like...

Winchester task: got a message from -1 unrecoverable error on device 3\2 block

Since the messages stick off the end of the screen, I can only assume
they are complaining about (a small set of) bad sectors.  So my questions
are: How do I fix this problem?  How do I lock out bad sectors on a
minix partition?

I am running V1.1 MINIX right out of the box, on an original IBM-PC
(with the upgraded roms) with 448K of memory and one (flakey) 360K
drive.  The HD is a ST221 (Number? the standard seagate 20 meg MFM
drive) and a WD controller.

thanx
j'

More detail if you are still reading.  I can often repeat the erring
command, and succeed.  If a 'cp' failed, i just repeat it.  However I
belive some of the files I write to the hard disk are still broken.
That would explain the occasional times the sytem hangs after printing
an error message similar to the one above.