Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!lll-winken!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!dri500!slootman
From: slootman@dri.nl (Paul Slootman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: Formatting MFM drive with RLL controller. Reliable?
Message-ID: <940@dri500.dri.nl>
Date: 15 Mar 91 16:01:11 GMT
References: <6830@gdc.portal.com> <1991Mar14.041558.24419@digi.lonestar.org>
Organization: DataCount Register Informatici, Wierden, The Netherlands
Lines: 49

In article <1991Mar14.041558.24419@digi.lonestar.org> kgallagh@digi.lonestar.org (Kevin Gallagher) writes:
>>I'm talking about formating an MFM drive with a RLL controller. 
[some stuff deleted]
>
>I have a MiniScribe 40 Meg, Model 3650.  It is sold as a MFM drive.  I
>installed it on 12/9/88.  I attached it to an Adaptec ACB-2072, which is an XT
>RRL controller.  (There is also a corresponding AT version of this controller.)

I have an Adaptec 2372, an AT RLL controller, also with a MiniScribe 3650,
and additionally a Micropolis 1324 51 Meg MFM disk.

>The specs state that the drive has 6 heads with 809 cylinders, with a park
>zone on cylinder 852.  
[some stuff deleted]
>did not use ANY of the spare cylinders above 809.  I decided to re-do the
>low-level format and specified 840 cylinders.  This format and verify
>completed without a problem.  I then used FDISK from PC DOS 3.3 to partition

I also use up to cylinder 840 (that's the way it was prepared when I bought
the machine).
>
>My PC get used just about every day.  I have had over two years of
>trouble-free operation.  The only maintenance I do on the drive is to run
>Spinrite two or three times a year.

We have 5 of these machines, and they're about 3 years old. Two of those
have had a second disk added after about one year. The only trouble we
have had is that in those two, the disks seem to overheat (if you look
at the PCB, there is a place, I think where the head stepper motor
control is, which becomes a bit brown :-( ). Perhaps two disks heat
up the environment inside the PC too much? Switching the machine off
for some time, turning it back on, quickly making a backup (which is
of course done regularly :-) saved the data. BTW, reformatting the
disk with MFM didn't make any difference, apparently it slowly dies.

The Micropolis disk runs without any trouble at all (giving me 78 Meg).
BTW, Maxtor XT1140's are great too - 230 Meg instead of 112 Meg! (Don't
forget the 220 tracks Maxtor forgot to tell us about [flame preventer:
I know, they're not certified or anything, use at your own risk, only
if you're not worried about the data, etc. I use it for /tmp])

Summary: If the formatting doesn't give any trouble (or only a couple
of extra sectors), things will probably be ok.

Paul.
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