30 Oct
2008
30 Oct
'08
5:44 a.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
On 29 Oct 2008 at 23:23, ethan.dicks at usap.gov
wrote:
There are some exceptions--one of which is the MFM drives used on the
"baby" models of the DG MV series. Apparently (as nearly as I can
determine), the controller firmware looks for a specially formatted
track that contains the drive parameters
So they were LLF'd at the DG plant and the LLF routine never escaped into the
wild?
I suppose there are probably a few others around like that, too. Plus lots of
systems using Adaptec ST-SCSI bridges where the first track is reserved for
drive geometry storage (although those can at least be LLFd out in the field
by prodding the bridge board directly)
--just plonking an off-the-
shelf drive of the same model number just doesn't work. The other
exception that comes to mind are drives that have a higher rotation
speed than the customary 3600 RPM.
I suspect step rate may come into play with a lot of high-end systems, too.
Lesser machines probably expected much less of the disk technology.
cheers
Jules