Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!texbell!texsun!digi.lonestar.org!harlie!mitch From: mitch@harlie.UUCP (Mitch Mitchell) Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm,comp.peripherals Subject: Re: How do I align a disk drive? Keywords: disk alignment Message-ID: Date: 14 Jul 90 14:43:47 GMT Reply-To: mitch@harlie.lonestar.org Organization: Motorcycle Riders Anonymous Lines: 27 X-Newsreader: WordStar 3.3 In article , dg@pallio.UUCP (David Goodenough) writes: >I recently got an old computer with a pair of full height 5.25" drives in >it. One of them is out of alignment because disks formatted in this drive >can't be read by the other (or any other 5.25" drive in the house), and >disks formatted by a good drive (of which I have several), can't be read >by the bad drive. For those that are interested, the drives are made by >Tandon, and use a split band actuator to move the heads. David - you might also want to check that the drive's rotational speed is up to spec. I had two 5 1/4" floppys that could format disks for themselves but no other drives could read them. I found that the rotational speed was off by about 5 milliseconds. It should be about 200ms between index pulses. Once adjusted (via a potentiometer on the circuit board) the drives worked fine. I used some diagnostic software that came with my computer but an o-scope or counter or mabe even seat-of-the-pants adjustment while trying to read a good disk would work... Good luck, Mitch ************************************************************************** * {uunet | texbell}!harlie!mitch Mitch Mitchell "Virago Rider" * * {uunet | texbell}!digi!mmitchel Voice & Phone Mail (214) 519-3257 * * mitch@harlie.lonestar.org FidoNet: 1:124/4115.224 * **************************************************************************