Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rutgers!mcnc!ecsgate!ecsvax!mvolo
From: mvolo@uncecs.edu (Michael R. Volow)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.apps
Subject: Re: SPINRITE
Summary: I lik-ed it but...
Keywords: Does it really work?
Message-ID: <1990Oct24.005624.28148@uncecs.edu>
Date: 24 Oct 90 00:56:24 GMT
References: <13509@sdcc6.ucsd.edu>
Distribution: comp.os.msdos.apps comp.sys.ibm.pc
Organization: UNC Educational Computing Service
Lines: 23



[poster asks about Spinrite]
I continue to use Spinrite sporadically and it seems to work. However,
it takes a long time for a HD of any size 5-20 hours. A faster approach
is to make a good backup (or two), do a low level format, fdisk,
and restore the files (from Fastback Plus, or tape etc.) I can do
the whole process in 60-70 minutes for a 40 meg HD.

Of course, with Spinrite, you can recover good portions of tracks
nominally marked bad and get extra disk space.

Finally, Spinrite created a problem with a disk that had some track
0 problems. It claimed to fix these problems (they were in DOS sector
around 50-55 I think) but a few weeks later the disk became unavail-
able to DOS. Nothing helped except repeating the low level format
without Spinrite, and typing in the bad track map. I'm not sure 
that you can tell Spinrite to selectively reclaim good sectors of
bad track, but not to do this in the system area of the disk.

-- 
Michael Volow, Psychiatry, Durham VA Med Center, Durham NC 27712
919 286 0411 Ext 6933               mvolo@ecsvax.edu