🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <welz2.8152$Ge3.32072890@news.itd.umich.edu>, bpb@umich.edu wrote:
>In alt.comp.virus Kevin M <kevmit@flash.net> wrote:
>
>> Harry Broomhall wrote in message <7a1g6p$92a$1@quince.news.easynet.net>...
>>>  There *used* to be a system where drives had a 'spare' cylinder for
>>>various purposes.  This *could* be the source of this problem.
>
>
>> I think that would be the space used to reallocate bad clusters.
>
>   Different thing: that's extra sectors per track, not the extra cylinder at
>the end of the drive.  Unless things have changed, but I doubt it: seeking all
>the way to the end of the drive sounds prohibitive performance-wise.

Reallocation is quite complex actually, and variable from manufacturer to 
manufacturer.  When a sector goes bad, the whole track is shifted and when it 
is not possible, usually reallocated from the spare track pool. This can lead 
to very significant slow downs in drive access anyway. But as you say, these 
have nothing to do with the last track (which can actually not be the last 
one, far from it) and is totally invisible at the application / bios level.

I think the explanations with invalid fdisk values could have been the correct 
answer, as someone said earlier.

Pierre


Pierre Vandevenne
www.datarescue.com, the home of the IDA Pro Disassembler
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