RL02K Pack Reliability/Characteristics

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2015-03-30 07:47, Christopher Parish wrote:
> I've gotten my RL-02 -> USB Mass Storage controller mostly working with a few residual gremlins.  Specifically, I've noticed from my testing that I have good packs, ones that read out almost the same every time, and bad packs, ones where half the bits seem to be in different states every time I read them.  I've left write support untested until I can solve this problem.
>
> Right now, my working theory is that different controllers had slightly different timing characteristics, and I may need to adjust more of my DPLL parameters dynamically to deal with that (something I'd rather avoid).  Of course, most of these packs haven't been put into a drive since the mid-80s, and there could be some bit rot going on.
>
> As many of you have much more experience dealing with these drives than I do, my questions are:
>
> - What type of long term reliability have people noticed from their RL02K packs?

I have not had any problems with long term reliability. I have packs 
that are 20 years old that read just fine.

> - Is garbage data sometimes normal for certain packs until they are rewritten with “fresh” data?

No.

> - Has anyone noticed pack compatibility problems between various computers/RL-02 controllers?

No.

I suspect you have some issues with your controller, and I wouldn't 
think it was timing, but I really don't know enough at this point to 
make any smart comments.

	Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol