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From: adamd@rhi.hi.is (Adam David)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st.tech
Subject: 1024-byte floppy sectors?
Summary: Large sectors on HD floppies make good sense but problems exist.
Message-ID: <3251@krafla.rhi.hi.is>
Date: 15 Jun 91 12:16:16 GMT
Organization: University of Iceland
Lines: 23

I have formatted disks with 1024-byte sectors, both by using my own version of
the Minix formatting program and with the excellent format option in Knife-ST
from Hisoft. Both in TOS (1.2) and in Minix (1.5:4) there are serious problems.
TOS cannot read any sectors with this format and displays the data damaged
dialog. Minix produces DMA error status 0 at present, but I am working on this
with a little help here and there.

1024-byte sectors are very useful on HD floppies because although it is
possible to squeeze 22 normal 512-byte sectors onto a track, this is slow
and potentially unreliable. 11 sectors of 1024 bytes each fit comfortably
on the track though, so 10% more space becomes available in a reliable format.

TOS uses a BPB to handle various media specifications. The floppy driver /
filing system must use 1024-byte cluster buffers for the standard format.
Why should it not be possible with standard TOS to use 1024-byte clusters
of one sector each? What modifications do I need to make to TOS in order to
use the larger sectors with it?

Any thoughts / suggestions welcome.

--
Adam David.
(adamd@rhi.hi.is)