Hi, I've got a harddisk (with BERT-interface) for about a year now, so
I will try to answer some questions...
> So, now I'd like some explanations and answers, please! The topics:
> 1 - Why isn't the terminator needed after all? Did I have a bad cable
> before? (When I got the "SCSI Bus is down // Host self test
> failed"-error)
I don't know, I never did experiment with terminators, I got one on
both sides of the cable. The BERT-'manual' speaks of 'possible damage
if not placed right' or something.
> 2 - Why doesn't the extended partitiontable work? (Because I have
> Novaxis 1.00 ROM?)
> 3 - If I upgrade to Novaxis 1.51, can I keep all the partitions,
and > all info on the HD? Or do I need to reinstall everything?
Sorry, I don't know anything about Novaxis.
> 4 - What causes the bad sectors, and why does SCANDISK report less bad
> sectors than HDCHECK? (Are they random, maybe?) Why only on the much
> better IBM drive?
Harddisks always have a certain amount of bad sectors. In the
factory, a table is made (the Bad-sector list), which disables those
bad sectors. This bad-sector list is used by the SCSI-controller in
the harddisk itself, so a user (the computer) doesn't (have to) know
about these sectors.
I've also got IBM harddisks of 160 MB myself (the IBM KZ/P and KZ/C
right?) and if I look in the FDisk-menu the total capacity is about
157/159 MB so the usable capacity is lower than the 160 MB.
I don't know the program SCANDISK, but I'm familiar with HDCHECK.
When I used it, I got 0 bad sectors!!
Maybe you only see the bad sectors on the IBM because the bad-sector
list is erased or not functioning anymore.
> 5 - Did I handle the BAD sectors in a good way? Or are there better
> methods?
Yes, you should only use HDCHECK for the first time you use the
harddisk. Ofcourse, when you have detected errors and after have
erased the FAT (if you re- initialize the partition) you must use the
program again).
> 6 - What is the FORMAT command for, since I can't format a partition
> with it? (Or is that the task of NFDISK?)
For write protect /disable the partition. You can format
(reinitialize?) the partition with (N)FDISK. With the BERT, the
information in the data-sectors is not destroyed, only the file-
system.
> 7 - Where can I find a manual of NFDISK?
???
> 8 - What is the difference between all those types of partitiontables?
??? (The BERT has only one type)
> 9 - Why are the Disk I/O errors (e.g. in Multi Mente) gone in a retry?
??
My disk never gives I/O errors.
Maybe HDCHECK did pass that sector, but the sector is still
unreliable?
> 10 - I guess an upgrade of the Novaxis ROM is a good thing. Who can
do > it for me, and what would it cost?
> 11 - Are the speeds I got with HDSPEED reasonable? What is the speed
> with a new Novaxis ROM? And what on 7MHz? (Twice as big?) And with both
> 7MHz and new ROM?
Hmmm, I get 34 kB/s with BERT v2.7 on 7 MHz, and if I recall
correctly, 31 kB/s on 3.5 MHz, so the speed is by far not twice as
big... (at least with BERT).
(Yeah, yeah, I know the BERT is very slooooow.)
The speed is checked by DOSSCAN.COM.
> 12 (BTW - Is HDSPEED reliable anyway? It only checked 32768 sectors...)
Don't know the program.
> 13 - With those bad sectors, marked BAD in the FAT, I guess files will
> be saved only on non-BAD sectors. But I guess SCANDISK and HDSPEED will
> still encounter errors, since they don't look in the FAT, but just read
> the sectors?
So use it only once.
(Or do they first look in the FAT and skip the bad sectors??)
>
> Ok, I guess that's it.
>
> Thanks for your attention, and please send me some
answers/explanations!
Hope this info was enough...
> More info or other suggestions/comments/tips in relation to this story
> are very welcome!
Ehh, a tip:
Never do a low-level formatting on a harddisk (it isn't necessary
and will erase the bad-sector list (?). Also, if it goes wrong,
it will destroy the harddisk. It happened with my harddisk. My disk
wasn't accessible anymore on MSX, PC, VAX-station...
It had to be (low-level) formatted on a Sun Solaris-computer before I
could use it again.
Also, I once tried to run SCC-MUSIXX with START.COM. And... this gave
the same error. Harddisk wasn't accessible anymore.
But, does anyone know why this with START went wrong? Is it a error
in the BERT interface? FDisk reported something like :"FRU code
xxx..., ...destination element full..." Anybody knows what this means?
> Grtjs, Manuel
>
Greetings, See Loy.
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