DEC Pro380 disk drives

On Mon, 7 May 2007, Curtis H. Wilbar Jr. wrote: I doubt it. Folks have been talking about formatting on an RQDX1. The RQDX1 uses a different format than that used by the RQDX2 and the VS2000. You can't format a disk on an RQDX1 and use it in an RQDX2. The RQDX2 was built around a single-chip disk controller, SMC's HDC9224. The same controller was used in the VS2000. The RQDX1 had a hand-crafted disk controller that used a slightly different format. Among other things, an RQDX1 can stuff 18 sectors on a track whereas the RQDX2, VS2000, and PCs for that matter can only do 17. Rumor has it there are also other differences in the format between the RQDX1 and the RQDX2, but I really don't recall what they are. I know nothing about the details of the low-level format used by the Pro 350, but if it's compatible with the RQDX1, it won't be compatible with the RQDX2 and VS2000. -- roger ivie rivie at ridgenet.net