Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!unido!fauern!fauern!csbrod From: csbrod@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Claus Brod ) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: disc testing Message-ID: <2443@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de> Date: 20 Feb 90 12:29:28 GMT References: <690@m1.cs.man.ac.uk> Organization: CSD, University of Erlangen, W-Germany Lines: 69 pjj@r2.uucp (Pete Jinks) writes: >1) Although formatting sometimes detects faults, why doesn't it always do so ? > Is it because I need to use several different test patterns (slow) ? The DESKTOP formatter checks for format errors and maps them out in the FAT. It does this by verifying the contents of the sector in memory and on disk. This test, however, is not perfect. You might use several test patterns to improve this. >2) Does such a program exist already ? > If not, would people like a copy if & when I get it working ? I have written a few programs that do parts of the job. They were published on the disk that belongs to my book SCHEIBENKLEISTER, a floppy and hard disk book. Some months ago, I started writing something like you want to write now, but never completed it. If you have a version ready, I would lllove to get one. >3) To speed things up, I am trying to access a track at a time. With 2-sided, > 9 sector per track discs, rwabs will not let me read 18 sectors, but will > let me read 9 - is this as expected ? RWABS works perfectly when being asked for 18 sectors. No problem. Are you sure you have set all the parameters correctly? >4) I would also like to reposition the read/write head over the next track > while I am checking the previous track - how can I do this ? > Are there any other ways to speed things up ? You will have to delve into direct FDC programming for doing this. Learn German and read my book 8-) 8-) >5) I suspect that TOS will automatically check the sector(s) written to disc > for me - is this so ? how can I turn it on (or check that it is on) if it > is optional ? TOS automatically verifies what you're writing on disk if the verify flag at $444 (system variables area) is set. >6) Like an idiot, as I was using C for the first time, I accessed drive '0' > instead of drive 0 (i.e. 0x30 instead of 0x00) and got to my hard disc. > Which partition did this access ? I think that I corrupted a sector & want > to get the right replacement from backup. > Which hard drives can be write protected ? > Is there software available which will "write protect" my hard drive ? > (I don't mean virus-proof it) Accessing partition 0x30 should fail and give you a RWABS error (unknown drive). At least, I think it should do so. Will reconsider that one. There are some hard drives that can be write-protected by hardware. There are also many software solutions for this problem; one of those is my hard disk driver (included in the book mentioned above) that write protects hard disk partitions. >7) I have been offered a formatter that will give 11 sectors per track. Could > anyone with experience of using discs with 10 or 11 sectors per track > comment ? > Try 11 sectors, and if your drive doesn't moan, it won't do ever. If you have a drive that spins too fast 11 sector formatting will fail because there's not enough space on the track. 10 sector formatting is perfectly safe and highly recommended. Claus Brod -------------------------- I don't know what I mean and I hate standard disclaimers.