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From: stephens@latcs1.oz.au (Philip J Stephens)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Fast reading of floppies...
Message-ID: <7399@latcs1.oz.au>
Date: 11 Mar 90 04:07:54 GMT
References: <14075@fs2.NISC.SRI.COM> <14076@fs2.NISC.SRI.COM>
Organization: Comp Sci, La Trobe Uni, Australia
Lines: 26

In article <14076@fs2.NISC.SRI.COM>, cwilson@NISC.SRI.COM (Chan Wilson) writes:
> How do those fast disk copiers work?   
> 
> I mean, I go to read $xx number of blocks from a floppy, and it takes
> its own sweet time about it. 
> 
> What I'm really asking for here, is a slice of code that will accept a
> starting block #, and an ending block #, and go fetch. Fast.

  If all you are looking for is a slice of code to _read_ a floppy very fast,
then you are in luck.  It is possible to create an optimized reading routine
(using tables and the like) that can read an entire track in a single
revolution.  I can't give you the code for this in this article without
wasting a lot of bandwidth though!  E-mail me if you're interested.
 
  Writing an entire track in a single revolution cannot be done unless you
change the format of the disk, or (in the case of Locksmith), read the data
from the disk in a scrambled format.

> --Chan

</\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\></\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\>
<  Philip J. Stephens                ><   "Many views yield the truth."        >
<  Hons. student, Computer Science   ><   "Therefore, be not alone."           >
<  La Trobe University, Melbourne    ><          - Prime Song of the viggies   >
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