Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!mks!wheels
From: wheels@mks.UUCP (Gerry Wheeler)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Disk holes and other strange things (was Re: F-15 Strike Eag)
Summary: but what about a disk with a bad sector?
Message-ID: <404@mks.UUCP>
Date: 22 Feb 88 20:15:53 GMT
References: <3037@cup.portal.com> <3186@cup.portal.com> <3255@cup.portal.com> <1414@puff.cs.wisc.edu>
Organization: Mortice Kern Systems, Waterloo, Ont.
Lines: 15

In article <1414@puff.cs.wisc.edu>,
 ttang@puff.cs.wisc.edu (Theodore Tang) writes:
> The ONLY time DOS uses that index hole
> is when it formats.

Well, that is OK on a good disk, but what about a disk with a bad
sector? I think the previous poster was right -- the disk controller
uses the index hole as a timeout if it can't find the requested sector. 
If you request sector 2, and the controller hasn't found sector 2 after
seeing a couple of index pulses, it has to assume sector 2 isn't there. 
-- 
     Gerry Wheeler                           Phone: (519)884-2251
Mortice Kern Systems Inc.               UUCP: uunet!watmath!mks!wheels
   35 King St. North                             BIX: join mks
Waterloo, Ontario  N2J 2W9                  CompuServe: 73260,1043