Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!tank!eecae!cps3xx!cpsvax!dulimart
From: dulimart@cpsvax.cps.msu.edu (Hansye S. Dulimarta)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Sony 3.5" 1.44 drive
Keywords: help please, info please
Message-ID: <3376@cps3xx.UUCP>
Date: 12 Jun 89 20:20:08 GMT
References: <817@hydra.gatech.EDU>
Sender: usenet@cps3xx.UUCP
Reply-To: dulimart@cpsvax.UUCP (Hansye S. Dulimarta)
Organization: Michigan State University, Computer Science Department
Lines: 37

In article <817@hydra.gatech.EDU> russ@prism.gatech.EDU (Russell Shackelford) writes:
>I have both an immediate problem and a less-pressing question:
>
>Problem: the drive WILL read the DIRECTORY info from 3.5" disks from other
>sources but will NOT read FILE contents or write them, i.e., i get a 
>"general error: abort retry ignore?" message (not verbatim but close).
>When i attempt a format, it will chug for a while and then gimme a failure
>message on disks that i know are good. hmmmmmm. 

I just had a similar problem (not exactly the same with yours), when I tried
to FORMAT my 3.5" diskette and got a failure message : "bad track 0 sector 0"
(not verbatim !).
To my surprise, the solution is very simple. I noticed that there is a small
hole on the LOWER RIGHT side of the diskette (not the write protect hole).
When I closed this hole with a tape, I can format my diskette without any
problem.

You might need to check for that hole in your diskette.

>Other Question: does anybody know how to disable the hardware sensor on this
>thing so that DD disks can be used as HD (assuming i get it to work at all)?

I have no idea about the hardware sensor, but I tried to format my DD diskette
as a HD format without any problem (I got a space for 1.44 Meg byte on my DD).
I have heard that this practice will NOT guarantee the reliability of my 
diskette, because the name DD (in same case) doesn't mean that it can't be
used as a HD diskette, but the diskette is manufactured and "tested" with
the mentioned specification on the diskette.
Remember that the recording medium on the diskette is a kind of chemical 
compound (oxide).

Hope it'll help.

Hans
Dept. of Comp. Sci.
MSU
East Lansing, MI 48825