🚀 go-pugleaf

halcyon!ralphs@seattleu.edu (Ralph Sims) writes:

>cnav11@vaxa.strath.ac.uk writes:

>> Does anyone have any more information on IDE's and was the dealer
>> correct in telling me to avoid using utility programs.?

>I've been using IDE drives since 1987, with minimal problems.  With
>these, I've used PCTOOLS in its various releases, Norton Utilities,
>XTree, run news and mail systems, low-level formatted, etc.  I'd
>have looked for other problems, such as a faulty CMOS chip, or even
>a problem with the system's battery.  If utilities were bad (especially
>commercial ones from reliable sources, i.e. Norton, Central Point, etc.),
>they wouldn't stay on the market for too long.

Well, I'll quote from my IDE disk manual (Kyocera KC 40GA):

	"Since it is impossible for a generic BIOS or generic low-level
	format program to understand the variable number of sectors per
	track, the KC-40GA protects itself from damage by not actually
	reformatting in response to the Format Track Command.

The implication of this passage is that unless your low-level format
software knows how to properly handle IDE disks, it can damage your disk.

IDE disks support the notion of sector slipping. Every track on the disk
has an extra sector.  If one of the sectors is bad, then the bad sector
is skipped, and the subsequent sectors are all slipped one sector forward,
thus consuming the extra sector.  This makes most disk flaws transparent
to DOS.

Also (at least for my IDE disk), there are a variable number of sectors
per track.  More sectors on the outer tracks, where there is more room.
The IDE controller hides all this and makes the disk appear as 5 head
17 sector per track disk.

If you try to low-level format this disk, you will probably lose track
of the bad disk sectors.  It will probably also attempt to format all
tracks with the same number of sectors.  I would expect this to cause
numerous problems.

In short, don't low-level format IDE disks unless you know what you're doing.
-- 
Mikel Lechner			UUCP:  teda!mikel
Teradyne EDA, Inc.
5155 Old Ironsides Drive	| If you explain so clearly that nobody
Santa Clara, Ca 95054		| can misunderstand, somebody will.