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From: telam@pyrps5.pyramid.com (Thomas Elam)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: HD Errors
Message-ID: <140299@pyramid.pyramid.com>
Date: 8 Jan 91 03:11:46 GMT
Sender: daemon@pyramid.pyramid.com
Organization: Pyramid Technology Corporation, Mountain View
Lines: 52

In article <17158@cbmvax.commodore.com> jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup) writes:
>In article <1991Jan5.235810.25940@nas.nasa.gov> ranma@noc.arc.nasa.gov (Robert Michael Gutierrez) writes:
>>Well, then write a good interface to an Amy version of fsck.  Odd that in the
>>Messy-DOS world, there's a TON of software to help fix trashed FS's (like
>>Norton, PC Tools, etc), and hundreds of thousands of these are sold to
>>the public at large.  I would imagine that most of these purchasers are
>>not hardware or developer types, and rely on using the menus to guide and
>>warn them on what happens.  Wasn't the Amy OS built on 'user interface'???
>
>	Amusing comment, given other people's contentions that MSDOG 
>filesystems are rock-solid.
>
>>I can NOT use my Syquest on FFS without seeing eventual errors crop up. ALL
>>my Syquest carts are OFS formatted.  With 40 megs worth of anim files to
>>deal with, I can't afford to do it any other way!  And these wern't simple
>>valadation errors...these were bad read/write errors that always got me stuck
>>on a bad block.
>
>	These sound like real hardware errors, not FS screwups.  If the bad
>block is in a file, you could delete the file (if the drive is still writable
>or you're good with a sector editor), but if you continue to use it you'll hit
>the bad block again soon.  You need to reformat, or map out the bad block.
>If the error is in a fileheader or directory block, you may be screwed and
>have to use disksalv/doctor to get some data back.
>
>	I would think syquests should be more reliable than that.  What's the
>MTBF?  Are these old drives/carts?  Have you talked to Syquest?  The only
>way to get R/W errors is a media/hardware problem, or turning off the power
>(or resetting) in the middle of a write.  Is there much dust or smoke (or
>any other contaminant) where they're kept?
>
>	If you have a 2091 (and perhaps other controllers), use "Verify Data
>on Drive" every so often.  This causes the drive to make sure all the sectors
>are ok, and report any bad ones, including recovered errors, so you can map
>them out before the go bad (hopefully).  Could you spell out your hardware
>config, including rev number of the Syquest roms if you know it, or when it
>was obtained?

Randell:

A dealer told me Commodore would not support the Syquest with the 2091.
Is that hogwash?  (Hope you answer soon:  the dealer has a TrumpCard on
order, even though I resisted get a second controller; I have a 2091.)

>-- 
>Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering.
>{uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com  BIX: rjesup  
>The compiler runs
>Like a swift-flowing river
>I wait in silence.  (From "The Zen of Programming")  ;-)

Tom