Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!asuvax!mcdphx!mcdchg!ddsw1!karl From: karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix Subject: Re: sector interleave Summary: Successful reformats (nondestructive) with Speedstore Keywords: query, iau, interleave, WD1006 Message-ID: <1989Oct2.135014.689@ddsw1.MCS.COM> Date: 2 Oct 89 13:50:14 GMT References: <358@mplex.UUCP> Reply-To: karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) Distribution: na Organization: Macro Computer Solutions, Inc., Mundelein, IL Lines: 35 In article <358@mplex.UUCP> fff@mplex.UUCP (Fred Fierling) writes: >We recently replaced an ailing IBM disk controller with a Western Digital >WD1006 in an IBM AT running Xenix 2.2.1 and used a program from >comp.binaries.ibm.pc called "iau" to change the interleave. To our surprise >the program, which performs interleave adjustments non-destructively on DOS >disks, trashed the Xenix filesystem on the disk. > >I don't understand why this would happen. Seems to me the order of the >sectors in a track is of little concern to operating systems. Can anybody >explain why this wouldn't work? Sounds like the utility is a little too smart for it's own good, and tried to do something with what it thought was a MSDOS system disk... >Also, anybody know of a utility that non-destructively changes disk interleave >and runs under Xenix? We have used Speedstor (Storage Dimensions' product) to change interleave on Xenix disks and have not yet had a problem. You do need to be somewhat careful; we always set up the disk as having one less cylinder than it really does have (in case we need to run diags on it in the future); I do not believe this is significant. For RLL disks, you need to say "/secs:26" on the Speedstor command line. This utility has been quite helpful for refreshing the format on a few disk drives that we have here without having to dump and reload the data. I would back it up first anyway (we always do), but we've never needed the backup yet :-) -- Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM,!ddsw1!karl) Public Access Data Line: [+1 312 566-8911], Voice: [+1 312 566-8910] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"