Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!oliveb!apple!amdahl!kevin
From: kevin@uts.amdahl.com (Kevin Clague)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: 1.4 Wishes and 3.5" drive question
Keywords: floppy, errors, disk validator
Message-ID: <12.hQb3Zv21010m3ZNU@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>
Date: 30 Mar 89 15:09:15 GMT
References: <1600@wpi.wpi.edu>
Reply-To: kevin@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (Kevin Clague)
Organization: Amdahl Corporation,  Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Lines: 42

In article <1600@wpi.wpi.edu> john@wpi.wpi.edu (John F Stoffel) writes:
>
>My wish for 1.4 is the ability to map out bad blocks on a floppy disk.
>I don't think this would be too hard to do since it is done on Hard
>Drives, it's just applying it to a smaller device.  My problem is I've
>got a batch of sub-standard disks, and I keep getting errors on them,
>which is really annoying during a download, since I have to basically
>stop it and go find a fresh disk.  This is even more annoying when
>you're in the middle of a 400K files...
>
>Now I may have missed this before, but is such a program already
>available for use on floppys?  If so, where could I get a copy?  If it
>is on a fred fish, just send me the file name and a disk number and
>I'll be happy, if it ain't... could you send me a copy?  Thanks for
>your help!
>
>John Stoffel        | john@wpi.bitnet    | What can you expect of a day
>WPI, Box 2432       | john@wpi.wpi.edu   | that begins with getting up
>Worcester, MA 01609 | husc6!m2c!wpi!john | in the morning?
>	 	--Damm the Disclaimers!  Full flame ahead!--

The terse answer is: no.

The verbose answer is that the Amiga reads and writes entire tracks at
a time, not individual sectors (blocks).  If such a program were to
exist, it would have to map out bad tracks.  I think the best solution
is to format the floppy using format or Tom Rokicki's dfc to format
the disks.  If the floppy won't format then don't use it.

I know this is not the answer you were looking for John, but it seems
to be the answer this forum comes up with every time the question is
asked.

Kevin
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[  Any thoughts or opinions which may or may not have been expressed  ]
[  herein are my own.  They are not necessarily those of my employer. ]