Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!ccut!wnoc-tyo-news!toumon!wucc!ytsuji
From: ytsuji@wucc.waseda.ac.jp (Y.Tsuji)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Bad Sector on Formatting (was Re: Tos 1.4 Bugs)
Summary: all formatters do the verifying.
Message-ID: <5646@wucc.waseda.ac.jp>
Date: 14 May 91 13:10:33 GMT
References: <1991May10.130926.28727@qut.edu.au> <RALPH.91May14111833@orion.laas.fr>
Organization: The Centre for Informatics, WASEDA Univ.
Lines: 30

In article <RALPH.91May14111833@orion.laas.fr>, ralph@laas.fr (Ralph P. Sobek) writes:
> It is true, other than real cheapo's, the defective floppy disk can be
> returned to the dealer.  (Do you all save all your receipts? :-)
Some disks have labels that says "lifetime guarantee", i.e. they can be
changed without a receipt. We return the defective products to the manufac-
turers here. And they know when the lot went to the market and determine
if the floppy hasn't been used long.
> Still, which formatters on the Atari do at least verify the formatted
> disk?  Especially, MS-DOS compatible formatters; you get 4 extra
> sectors for free!
Very few formatters (such as those that come with a disk editor) have their
own routine for the actual formatting. Most of the formatters simply feed
arbitrary parameters to a TOS formattng routine, which does the verify.
> 
> The only time I detected a defective floppy instantly was when Sector
> 0 was defective!  Otherwise, you slowly fill up the floppy disk until
> you come to the defective spot. ;-(  It would be nice to know that
> fact when the disk was formatted.
Fortunately maybe, I have never experienced using a defective disk in my
life (since 1980 when I bought my own single sided 8" disks). I heard people
like to spread dust (tiny rocks, they are) over their disks, use very poor
drive mechanism, or are unaware of the insufficient power supply to the
drive mechanism. I have experienced cases where read/write failed but neither
the floppy nor the drive mechanism was to blame: the write current of previous
head was too strong for the second write current to override. As long as we
use the same type of drive mechanism with adequate and stable power supply,
that can be avoided.
(the rest deleted)

Y Tsuji ("I 've got only one person who has positively responded to my
          appeal for a beta tester of an  HD drive project!")