SCO and hard disk errors

[Karl Denninger]

In article <2354 at ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> kinmonthprep at deneb.ucdavis.edu.UUCP (Earl H. Kinmonth) writes:
>What about the MSDOS partition.  The badtrk utility refuses to
>accept bad track information for the MSDOS partition but the dos*
>functions seem to have a remarkable ability to address bad tracks
>in the MSDOS partition.  Then the disk drive starts making noises
>like an old Maytag with rocks in it....

If you use a product such as Speedstor (tm) to do the low-level format, 
you'll get the bad tracks flagged in the DOS FAT table when you perform 
the high-level format.  The 'dosxxx' commands will not use them, since 
they're marked as being unusable.....

Remember, on the MSDOS partition, you need to do things the DOS way (at
least at the format/generation level).

Our version of Xenix, SV/386 2.2.1, correctly marks and interprets bad track
tables, and you can add to it without reformatting or reloading your disk if
a track goes bad after installation.  The system will even attempt to
salvage the data in the now-bad area, although it's not always successful.

(BTW: Speedstor can also 're-initialize' (ie: change interleave) on a Xenix
disk and not blow everything up.  I was *amazed* that this worked; our system
still booted after messing with the interleave in this exact fashion).

Speedstor is a product of Storage Dimensions, Inc.  We're a very satisfied
customer.....

--
Karl Denninger (ddsw1!karl) Data: (312) 566-8912, Voice: (312) 566-8910
Macro Computer Solutions, Inc.    "Quality solutions at a fair price"