Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!pyramid!leadsv!kallaus
From: kallaus@leadsv.UUCP (Jerry Kallaus)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: I lost my head !
Summary: ST506 9th head missing?
Message-ID: <5381@leadsv.UUCP>
Date: 14 Dec 88 04:06:53 GMT
Reply-To: kallaus@leadsv.UUCP (Jerry Kallaus)
Organization: LMSC-LEADS, Sunnyvale, Ca.
Lines: 28

[]

I just added a C= A2090A and a Seagate ST4096 harddisk to my 2000.

Does anyone have any idea why only 8 out of the 9 heads on this
drive may be used?

Prep accepts 9 as the number of surfaces.
However, when I run FORMAT, for each cylinder counted by the
FORMAT display, from the drive there are 9 quick clicks for the
format followed by what sounds like 9 real fast clicks for
the verify, and then the FORMAT display cylinder number increments
by one and the sound pattern repeats.

When FORMAT said it was formating something like cylinder 127,
the system seemed to hang in a loop, retrying to format that
cylinder.  The drive actually has 1024 cylinders.  Note that
128*8=1024.  It seems to me that it's behaving as if there
was one head that spans 9 cylinders instead of 9 heads
spanning one cylinder.  It also seems like someone only
allowed 3 bits somewhere for the number of heads.

Any ideas why this is?

-- 
Jerry Kallaus         {pyramid.arpa,ucbvax!sun!suncal}leadsv!kallaus
(408)742-4569
     "Funny, how just when you think life can't possibly get
      any worse, it suddenly does." - Douglas Adams