Fixing "old" (but not quite classic) IDE and MFM drives? - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

16 Jun 1998

While we're on this subject. . .

Does anyone out there have a copy of SpeedStor that can access 
Storage Dimensions old 8-bit scsi host adaptors? (Specifically, the 
DataCannon 800).  I'm trying to test an old scsi MFM controller 
board, and I need to format the drive, first!

Jeff 

...

 On Tue, 16 Jun 1998, Charles E. Fox wrote:

  (I've shortened your quote of my email...)

   Several
of these drives seem to almost work (they make the usual sounds
at power up and can be detected by the bios of a newer PC) but they won't
format/fdisk for me. 

          I have had quite good results with
Ontrack Disk Manager, about four times
 out of five it will get an old drive going and lock out the bad sectors.
         The recovered drives have been going in XTs etc. At ten or twenty megs
 capacity there is no point in trying to install them in modern computers.

 Thanks for the tip. I've tried Spinrite and some program I got with a WD
 drive. I believe I got Ontrack with a drive I bought recently. I'll try
 it.  I'm afraid it may be beyond that though. The drives are not getting
 as far as reporting bad sectors ... they just hang when I try to format
 them.

 Regards,

  Bjorn Eng