29 Jul
2004
29 Jul
'04
1:41 a.m.
>>>> "Tony" == Tony Duell
<ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> writes:
> I wrote a little test program to attempt to read
random blocks and
> I watched the read/write head. It did move in and out like it
> should. If it was attempting to read a low numbered block, it
> moved just a little bit. If it was attempting to read a high
> numbered block, it moved farther toward the center of the platter.
> However, every
Tony> That sounds right. There should be a vernier scale on the
Tony> positioner so you can check it's going to the correct cylinder,
Tony> but at this point I'd assume it was not the problem.
> attempt to read or write resulted in an error.
The head would
> position to the appropriate(?) position on the disk, sit there a
> short while, and then move back to cylinder 0.
Tony> This is presumably due to your program, or the RSTS driver. The
Tony> hardware should not do this. Can you execute seek commands from
Tony> the front panel? If so, I assume the head goes to a cylinder
Tony> and stays there.
Yup. Typical software error handling is to do a couple of retries,
and finally end up with a drive reset or "recalibrate". That's the
control/alt/del of hard drives... :-)
paul