Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    If you can get your hands on MRBackup, you might try it.  It'll
    allow you to run a backup without setting the archive bit.  I've
    never used SDBackup, so I can't help you there.
    
    Good luck.
    
    Gary

    SDBackup seems like a very nice utility, it's just that in my
    strange case, I can't make use of it.  If it had the ability to 
    backup without setting the bit, I would be all set.
    
    What commercial packages (besides MRBackup) have this option?
    Quarterback?
    
    Thanks
    
    Steve

    
    Yes, QuarterBack will allow backup with or without setting or even
    reading the archive bit.  Besides, it's a whole lot faster than
    SDBackup; something like a megabyte/minute.
    
    Ed.

    Yeah, Quarterback is a quite nice and fast program, although I don't
    trust its floppy operation too much (They do some illegal stuff
    there...).
    But anyway, DiskSalv 1.32 will happily salvage your damaged DH0:
    just read the docs...
    The advantage of DiskSalve vs. any backup program lies in the fact
    that DiskSalv may rescue some data that these progs won't.
    It is slower though.
    
    -	<CB>
    

    I will download DiskSalv 1.3 and see what happens.  Essentially,
    I can use it to rebuild, and backup my DH0: onto floppies.  Correct?
    How do I then reconstruct my DH0: from the floppies. By copying
    them back to DH0: after I have re-partitioned/re-formatted?   
    
    Is it possible to DiskSalv from DH0: to DH0:, and then use a backup
    utility to backup my disk? 
    
    DiskSalv is the way to go, as I am missing a directory from my top
    most DH0: level.  I can still CD down the "missing" tree, but it
    does not show up in any directory command.  Great, huh?
    
    Steve

Re: .4

>    Yeah, Quarterback is a quite nice and fast program, although I don't
>    trust its floppy operation too much (They do some illegal stuff
>    there...).

What illegal stuff does Quarterback do?

    Re. 5
    
    You got the big picture. DiskSalv will salvage all that can be saved
    from your HD to ANY disk device (floppy, DH1:, even RAM: :-).
    After you salvaged your DH0:, do a "Copy Volxx: to dh0: all" with
    all your disks or your other partition, and you're set. 
    The DiskSalv documentation is quite good, so you shouldn't have
    any problems.
    
    -	<CB>
    

    
    Re. .6
    
    I didn't disassemble it, but some of the things they do are VERY
    low level stuff, some beyond the realms of the OS. 
    You might wind up with a disk drive labeled as "DFx:BAD", even if
    there is a perfectly sane disk in there, or occasionaly the machine
    visits the guru at program termination (this didn't happen with
    3.0 'till now).
    
    However my biggest grief with QB is that if you don't enable "Read
    after Write" you might as well write into thin air, if you're 
    interrested in data integrity. 
    You will get (in a safe manner) the speed of QB only if you write
    on 100% tested and preformatted disks.
    And preformatting disks is neccessary to be able to copy your backup
    disks with a standard diskcopy program like TurboBackup, since QB
    formats it's disks only as far as it fills 'em.
    
    I still think that QB is the best program in it's field today.
    
    -	<CB>
    

    re. DiskSalv
    
    Maybe its me.  I have been trying to get DiskSalv to run to completion
    for days now without any luck.  First it dies during a disk swap
    after writing the first disk.  Then (using V1.4) it hangs while
    writing the 4th disk.  The third strike came last night when it
    crapped out on me while writing the 12th disk.  The floppy light
    even stayed on until I re-booted the system.
    
    I had thought that software from Dave Haynie would function as
    expected.  Wrong!  Either that, or my system has some major 
    problems.  And my system _had_ been beautiful for the past 8 
    months.

    My only hope is that Quarterback will be able to restore
    some of my sanity.
    
    Arrrgggghhhh!

    Have a good (german) beer, relax...
    I thought Dave had fixed that odd bug in 1.32.
    I assume you were using the Format option?
    Is QuarterBack fails on certain parts, try salvaging those 
    WITHOUT that Format option.
    I'll get hold of Dave and report this bug once more...

    Talking about frustation, how about owning a A2620 and finding
    software biting the dust to your right and left?
    
    -	<CB>

    Well, I am out of German beer, so I grab a Sam Adams and
    sit down to backup using Quarterback.  Works like a champ!
    It will not recognize 3 existing directories, but neither
    will the 'dir' command, so I backup those seperately.     
    
    Now when I get a chance, I will re-partition, format,
    and resurrect my drive. (Hopefully)  Then I can get back
    to development.
    
    Thanks to everyone who helped out.  I have a few more 
    beers in the fridge, if anyone would like one. :^)
    
    Steve

The saga continues... (moved from it's own note)
    
             <<< BOMBE::DISK_NOTES$LIBRARY:[000000]AMIGA.NOTE;1 >>>
                                -< AMIGA NOTES >-
================================================================================
Note 3119.0                     Seagate HD blues                      No replies
SMAUG::SPODARYK "Binary Throttle"                    28 lines  15-NOV-1989 21:30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, my 64 Meg Seagate ST277N just became a ~40 Meg drive
    I had attempted to move about 8 Meg from my first partition
    to my second, when I kept getting the 'read/write error'
    requester.  
    
    I tried cancelling it about 50 times, and throughly frustrated,
    re-booted.  Naturally, dh1: didn't verify, but it did seem to
    have all the copied information intact.  Since I couldn't 
    write to it, I backed up what I needed to, reformatted, and
    restored.
    
    Being of an optimistic nature, I tried the procedure again,
    thinking that the formatting may 'clean' things up.  Yeah,
    right!  Same scenario.
    
    I am going to call Lyco, and exchange the drive.  I believe it
    has a 1 year warranty, that is still in effect.  Does anyone
    have any ideas for me (other than NOT getting another Seagate)
    to try, before I pull this drive?
    
    What makes me mad is the fact that the AmigaDOS format command 
    did not catch the bad media the very first time I formatted.
    Shouldn't this be the case?  I know that it's up to the SCSI
    drive to keep track of bad blocks, but when a drive is this
    faulty shouldn't there be an earlier indication?
    
    ~Steve - GRRrrrr....

    Well, I just talked to Lyco (the distributor) and they don't appear
    to carry the ST277N anymore.  Funny, their ads still list it.
    The person there tried to tell me that the Seagate drives won't
    format beyond 32M unless I was using the format software with
    MS-DOS 4.x.  "Does an Amiga run MS-DOS?"  Oh boy.
    
    I tried explaining I was using a SCSI controller and that AmigaDOS
    was not related in any shape/form/fashion to MS-DOS, but it didn't
    really sink in.  When I ordered the drive, the saleman seemed to
    know exactly what an Amiga was, because he sold a lot of SCSI drives
    to Amiga owners.  If only technical support was as knowledgable.
    
    I used the HardFrame installation software and the AmigaDOS format
    command.  Could any of these possibly limit the drive to 32 Meg?
    The only reason I ask, is that the number is in the area of when
    my problems start occuring.  I still think that either the drive
    has a lot of 'bad media' (although it did pass their test), or
    that this Seagate SCSI drive is brain dead to begin with.  I can
    put about 40M on it, without (seemingly) any problems.
    
    Now, I'm supposed to contact Seagate to verify that the drive is
    faulty before Lyco can do anything else.  Of course, getting 
    hold of the proper department at Seagate is near impossible.
    
    Any ideas (besides using my savings for an 80M Quantum)?
    
    ~Steve

I have a 42 Mbyte Quantum on a GVP Hardcard, and a Seagate ST277N
daisy-chained onto the Hardcard. No problemos. The Seagate is
partitioned as a 42 and 21 Mbyte drives. 

Paul

	Hello all,

	I'm desperate, while working with my Amy suddenly a requester
	popped up, mentioning that device DH0: is not validated.

	I wasn't very scared, for I had seen this before and after a 
	long time of diskvalidation the requester vanished.

	But today the requestor didn't go away. Issuing the INFO command
	showed me over 100 Mio blocks used (on a 44 MB disk !!) and 
	almost the same - but negative - amount free.
	There were 29 errors and the status was validating.
	Reboots didn't help.

	So I did the last thing I could think of, backed up my harddisk
	(not including many files because of a no_more_floppies error),
	and then initialised my disk.
	After long three quarters of an hour the diskformat finished with ...
	a requestor "Disk not Validated".
	Now that's the status, I can't access the disk (that is: I can't 
	write to it, but I can read from it. - if there only would be anything
	to read).

	After an INFO DH0: my bastard of an Amy says:

	Unit	Size	Used	Free	Full	Errs	Status	    Name
	DH0:	44M				0	Validating  Harddisk


	can anyone bring light into this strange thing, and please help me.

	Many thanks in advance
	Helmut

	(oh, forgot to mention my config (though you could read it in the
	Who's'Who topic :^)

	Amy A2000 with A2090 (not A) controller with 40MB Rodime MFM-disk.
	(o.k. there's a 3.5 MB RAM available but this shouldn't matter)	

    Make sure you use the format from 1.3, NOT 1.3.2!!!!
    
    If you are not sure of the version, after the format, do it again but
    use the quick flag, this should validate the disk.
    
    Jean
    

	Hi Jean,

	thanks for your reply, after I slept over the problem, I just
	tried to restore my backup and wonder, everything worked except
	that I think (I'm not sure), that my harddisk lacks now 2MB
	(an INFO shows 42MB and I think it said 44MB before).

	But I don't mind, 'cause I'm thinking about an upgrade to
	a GVP Series II with a Quantum LPS105 in the near future.

	BTW: what's wrong with FORMAT of version 1.3.2. ?
	I'm using this workbench release. Can I expierience other troubles
	with normal floppies as well ?

	Thanks Helmut

Invest in Quaterback Tools.  I can't say this enough.  It has recovered hard 
disk problems on both of my systems.  It is the quickest way of fixing 
validation problems without reformatting.

Money WELL spent.

Randy

	What, Which, How, How much ... ?

	Quarerback Tools what is it exactly and how much does it cost ?
	Suppose it's from Central Cost Software as well ?

	But since I'm searching for HD tools I will have a closer look at it.

	Thanks Helmut

QB tools has been discussed several other places in this conference.

It is a set of tools for fixing and formatting disks and hard disks.  It is 
the only way I know to fix validation problems without reformatting.

It sells for aobut $75 US.

Worth every penny.  (There are a few bugs in it...but they are documented in 
detail in other notes.)

Randy

>             <<< Note 2517.20 by HYSTER::DEARBORN "Trouvez Mieux" >>>
> 
> QB tools has been discussed several other places in this conference.
> 
> It is a set of tools for fixing and formatting disks and hard disks.  It is 
> the only way I know to fix validation problems without reformatting.
> 
> It sells for aobut $75 US.
> 
> Worth every penny.  (There are a few bugs in it...but they are documented in 
> detail in other notes.)
> 
> Randy
> 
> 

Depending on the severity of the validation failure, sometimes I've been able
to simply issue a DISKCHANGE DH0: command once booted and that "cures" it.

DH0: was in the "validating" state according to INFO.

john