Fun with degaussers - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

2 May 1999

...
 > Then maybe it's the heads, or maybe it's
dirt, or maybe it's just bad-
> quality media.  In my experience, one
> or two bad blocks on a 8" floppy is acceptable.  6 or 12 is way too many,
> and indicates a more serious problem. 
...
 I would start investigating if there are _any_ bad
blocks... 
One or two are OK, if they get mapped out.  The I/O Exerciser (IOX) under
RSX is very good at finding flaky blocks, as is FORMAT/VERIFY:ONLY/PATTERN:
under RT-11.

...
 > Maybe I'm just paranoid, but
> I don't like taking chances with data, and testing with new media and 
...
 Agreed. My data is a lot more valuable than the price
of a floppy 
...
 Problem is that getting known-good 8" disks is
non-trivial now. Computer 
shops just don't stock them... 
8" Floppies are available from many mail-
order sources in the US, most notably direct from Imation (used to
be 3M), and I've lived in neighborhoods that had retailers still
stocking them.

...
 > trashing questionable media is cheap and easy
compared to replacing
> lost data.  This is much more true with removable platter drives than
> with floppies! 
...
 Eh? Floppies are a lot cheaper than hard disk packs in
my experience... 
But a dirty platter can wreck a lot more than your data (such as your
heads) when they *do* crash.

-- 
 Tim Shoppa                        Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
 Trailing Edge Technology          WWW:   http://www.trailing-edge.com/
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