11 Jan
2010
11 Jan
'10
6:47 p.m.
On 11 Jan 2010 at 2:08, Jan-Benedict Glaw wrote:
My problem is that none of the 42 predefined HDD types
fits my HDD,
unfortunately not even the heads and sectors settings. (Missing some
of the HDD's space due to a too small cylinders value wouldn't be a
problem.)
What kind of hard disk and controller are you using? If it's a
standard MFM, 17 sectors per track was pretty much standard across
all drives. (25, 26 or 32 for RLL controllers, but they have their
own setup).
So you should be able to at least find *something* that will halfway
work.
Of course, if this is an IDE or SCSI drive and controller, the
controller should have its own BIOS to work in a setup like this. If
it doesn't, you need to find one unless you're into BIOS hacking.
You can, in a pinch, select a value that's less in all dimensions.
For example, most IDE drives claim to have 63 sectors per track, but
using only 17 of those will work, even if a substantial part of your
drive will go unused.
Just don't try to low-level format an IDE drive--some drives will
actually support this and the result sometimes doesn't turn out well.
--Chuck