Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!sequent!ccssrv!perry
From: perry@ccssrv.UUCP (Perry Hutchison)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: RLL controllers with MFM drives
Message-ID: <784@ccssrv.UUCP>
Date: 2 Nov 89 01:00:34 GMT
References: <624@crash.cts.com>
Reply-To: perry@ccssrv.UUCP (Perry Hutchison)
Distribution: na
Organization: Control-C Software, Inc., Beaverton, OR
Lines: 16

In article <624@crash.cts.com> jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau) writes:

> I work for an authorized Seagate dealer ... Seagate NEVER condoned RLL
> formatting a non-RLL certified drive.  Same goes in reverse, if you MFM
> format an RLL drive, the warranty is invalidated.

I asked this once before, but now that we have someone with direct Seagate
knowledge maybe we can get a semi-authoritative answer.  It's pretty clear
from previous postings that using RLL on a drive not designed for it is
not always going to work, and one can therefore not expect a manufacturer
to warrant the results.

What I don't see is why Seagate objects to MFM formatting of an RLL-rated
drive.  Obviously it reduces the capacity by 1/3, but if someone wanted to
do it, would it really impair the reliability so as to justify voiding the
warranty?