Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!spool.mu.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!shelby!msi.umn.edu!noc.MR.NET!nic.stolaf.edu!uafhp!mamos From: mamos@uafhp.uark.edu (Mark _E_ Amos) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Subject: Re: how do i change the interleave on a ide drive? Message-ID: Date: 16 Feb 91 19:29:32 GMT References: <1991Feb11.205602.6901@nntp-server.caltech.edu> <15082@uudell.dell.com> <6556@testeng1.misemi> Sender: news@acc.stolaf.edu Organization: University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Lines: 46 wood@Software.Mitel.COM (Dale Wood) writes: >After phone calls with seagate, it was determined that the low level format >has disstroyed the bad sector map in the disk (notice how there is no bad >sector list on the IDE drives ) Just so happens (I guess) that one of the bad >sectors in my drive was an important one :-) Just a note which might be of interest: Last summer I put together 16 AT class machines with MiniScribe 3.5" 40Meg IDE drives, and every one of them came with a bad sector map: 2 decals (1 presumably to stick on the drive) AND a dot matrix printout of the bad sector test results - apparently a report sheet from the test program itself... I mentioned this because all this hulabuloo over IDE drives is getting rather confusing, and after talking to Miniscribe about the drives I worked with, I have come to the (obvious?) conclusion that IDE drives differ widely between manufacturers. I know hard drives have always differed between makers, but what I mean is the core implementation and design of the actual IDE board itself, in addition to the mechanical differences. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand EVERYTHING electronically is INTEGRATED into the drive itself, with the exception of the "glue" chips (count 'em on one hand) that buffer the PC bus. To me, this means the manufacturer can do almost anything they want to implement the actual controller. Further, to say "My motherboard has a built in IDE controller" would be a bad misnomer - more correct is "My mother- board has a built in IDE drive interface (less than 10 standard logic parts). The conclusion I have for all this is it makes a BIG difference who you get your IDE drive from as to whether or not you can low-level format, and how reliable the thing is generally... For instance, I have heard alot of complaints about Seagate IDEs, and I personally have experience with Miniscribe and their hot running, low MTBF IDE drive; I own a Conner 3184 82Meg, however, and it is the fastest, quetiest, coolest running hard drive I have seen on a PC (this one is a 386-25), and I have had no trouble whatever from it. In other words, if I were going to buy another IDE, it would be a Conner. Period. Just my observations. Please correct if you have seen otherwise. ============================================================================== Mark _E_ Amos | University of Arkansas Computer Science Engineering mamos@uafhp.uark.edu | mea1@engr.uark.edu | (emphasise the Computer Engineering please) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Man's mind, when stretched to a new idea, never goes back to its original dimension." -Oliver Wendell Holmes ==============================================================================