The 3370s supported by DOS/VS and VM, were FBA disks with a 512-byte
sector size.
My memory on DOS/VS is vague, but I believe they had VTOCs that were
similar to CKD VTOCs but structured to fit in 512 sectors and to
describe datasets in sectors. To do something similar in z/OS would
require that EVERY program which reads VTOC data, IBM, ISV, shareware,
freeware and home-grown, would have to change to handle this format.
This would be a major task, and is probably why IBM is reluctant to
support them.
My vague memory for VM is that when the disk was used directly by VM, no
VTOC was involved.
However, FBA disks can be attached to z/Series today, via SCSI or FIBRE
channels, but they are currently limited to Linux and VM systems. I
believe that IBM may allow access from z/OS in a future release.
--
Bruce A. Black
Senior Software Developer for FDR
Innovation Data Processing 973-890-7300
personal: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
sales info: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
tech support: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
web: www.innovationdp.fdr.com
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