| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 2907.1 | redundency substitutes for reliability | SAUTER::SAUTER | John Sauter | Mon Sep 11 1989 17:14 | 20 |
| You're right, the floppy drives and disks are not very reliable.
However, they are a lot less expensive than the commercial-grade stuff,
like IBM-comptaible mag tapes and drives. You get what you pay for.
Here's what I do to avoid the problem: when I get a program like
Falcon, I immediately make a backup of it, and store the original in
the back of the bottom drawer of my desk. The kids can play all they
want with the copies. When a disk goes bad, the kids come to me
for help. I make another copy off the original, and they are back
in business.
I've noticed that some disks will run error-free forever, whereas
others need refreshing every few weeks. However, I don't know any way
other than trying them to separate the kinds.
I also noticed that some disks would refuse to read on one drive, but
read OK on the other. Most disks read OK on both. I got an alignment
program that reported that both drives are fine, so I suspect the disk
is bad in a way that only one drive is sensitive to.
John Sauter
|
| 2907.2 | | NZOV01::MCKENZIE | All the while,The Dragon Slept | Mon Sep 11 1989 18:47 | 17 |
| > I also noticed that some disks would refuse to read on one drive, but
> read OK on the other. Most disks read OK on both. I got an alignment
> program that reported that both drives are fine, so I suspect the disk
> is bad in a way that only one drive is sensitive to.
> John Sauter
>
John - when you remove the disk that is unreadable from the drive
and re-insert it in the same drive - is it readable then? if so
you may have the Byte Warrior Virus (NOT the byte BANDIT) which
corrupts system pointers to external drives...most virus killers
will destroy it...
Might be worth checking - I had this problem a month or two back
and was convinced I had a pile of knackered disks - a friend of
mine told me to check for viruses and sure enough - after writing
new boot blocks onto the infected disks everything was ok...
|
| 2907.3 | | NZOV01::MCKENZIE | All the while,The Dragon Slept | Mon Sep 11 1989 18:52 | 8 |
| > let me know. Also what is the best backup utility currently
> out there, I want to start backing up my copy protected disks
> as well.
Everyone has their own preferences - my personal favourite is X-Copy
version 2.3 - easy to use yet reasonably sophisticated...
|
| 2907.4 | Just a thought | BOMBE::MOORE | BaN CaSe_sEnSiTiVe iDeNtIfIeRs! | Mon Sep 11 1989 21:11 | 4 |
| You mention not turning off power while disk drives are active, I
assume you also instructed them to *REMOVE* the diskettes before
turning power off (or on). Power cycles (up or down) can certainly
destroy disks, regardless of write-protect, etc...
|
| 2907.5 | disk quality ? | SALEM::LEIMBERGER | | Tue Sep 12 1989 07:02 | 14 |
| I have been very lucky over the three years I have had my Amiga.The
few times I have had problems the disk with the problem was always
one of the cheaper brands.Of course this would not be the problem
with any original game disks.However when you start to backup your
games, etc I would use a high quality disk like Sony's.I have noticed
many of the less expensive bulk disks are not labled as to density,and
such.I always wonder about this.I had a guy come by the house once
to copy some PD stuff an he had single density disk.He swore he
had no problems with them,and got miffed when I would not put them
in my drive.Are you sure the disks given to you were the proper
type.aside from this the only answer is enhanced instructions for
the "little people" in your home.Of course upon repair of your drive
all these problems may go away.Good luck,and keep us posted.
bill
|
| 2907.6 | | LEDS::ACCIARDI | | Tue Sep 12 1989 09:02 | 15 |
|
The Amiga uses the same 3 1/2" floppies that umpteen other vendors use,
(Chinon, NEC, etc...) so mechanically, I don't think there's a big
difference there.
I usually blame disk problems on copy protection schemes. Disks that
have been duplicated by a nibbler never seem to load as reliably as
originals.
Of course, if your problems are that bad, maybe you should replace the
drive.
Ed.
|
| 2907.7 | | SAUTER::SAUTER | John Sauter | Tue Sep 12 1989 09:15 | 8 |
| re: .2---No, powering off and on, then trying the floppy again,
continues to demonstrate its badness. I have a pile of floppies that
reliably fail on DF1. Interestingly, they're all the same color and
contain no manufacturer's name.
re: .0--My favorite backup utility is Quarterback. It is so fast that
I no longer want a tape streamer.
John Sauter
|
| 2907.8 | A Strange Occurence | COOKIE::WITHERS | If you play it, say it | Tue Sep 12 1989 13:09 | 23 |
| The other night, I was using my Amiga when I got the following...any clues?
FWIW I leave my Workbench write-protected all the time.
Anyway, on my 3-drive A1000 (2 external), I got a standard "Please put
WORKBENCH1.3: in any drive" message. SO, I took the diskette that was in DF0:
out and put the workbemch disk in. The drive churned a little bit but the
requestor never went away. Then I noticed that the red light onb DF0: was
stuck on.
Feeling fairly safe (having a write-protected disk and a backup), I took the
WB disk out and put it into DF2: The requestor went away and the thing I needed
the WB disk for happened. So, I fired up a NewShell and did a DIR of DF0:.
It hung. NewSHell and INFO...it hung.
Finally, after I got my work done (ain't multi-tasking wonderful?), I did a
warm-boot and the drive un-locked.
Any clues what happened? Any ideas how to unwedge the drive in the future
short of rebooting?
Thanks,
BobW
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| 2907.9 | Some answers and opinions... | FRAMBO::BALZER | Christian Balzer DTN:785-1029 | Wed Sep 13 1989 03:49 | 21 |
| Re: .1 -.7
Well, I NEVER had any problems leaving disks in the drives during
power cycles. NEVER ever in my nearly four years of amigoid living.
Problems do arise from bad disk, bad drives (alignment) and bad
and stoopid(tm) copy protection schemes.
The best program to back up non-protected disks is (not only) IMHO
TurboBackup. It can be found on Fish #139 and several other places.
Re: .8
Things like this do happen. Once your're there only a re-boot will
help. It's probably a DOS bug, but given the amount of braindead
software out there you never know...
The diskchange algorithm in DOS/trackdisk.device in definitivly
braindead, too. Be extra careful AND slow when changing disks under
"OS control"...
Regards,
<CB>
|
| 2907.10 | It only takes once. | BOMBE::MOORE | BaN CaSe_sEnSiTiVe iDeNtIfIeRs! | Wed Sep 13 1989 16:44 | 5 |
| Well CB, you've been lucky. I've seen at least 3 disks wiped out by
power cycles. Think about it... Logic circuits can go completely
INSANE when power levels are outside operating ranges. There's no
way anyone can be certain a current surge won't pass through the head
during power up/down, and that's all it takes.
|
| 2907.11 | disk ok now | LINCON::MGAINES | | Thu Sep 14 1989 10:46 | 11 |
| Well guys my drive is fixed. I found a tension spring jammed under
the spin platter. I don't know where this spring belongs... My drive
seems to be functioning properly now though.
Whats the best backup program currently available that will allow
me to backup COPY PROTECTED DISKS? I don't want to continue going
through the seller to get my COPY PROTECTED disks replaced, every-
-time one of my kids goof up.
M. Gaines
|
| 2907.12 | have software/needs copy | GLDOA::STOUGHTON | | Thu Sep 14 1989 11:26 | 8 |
| I have been looking at getting a copier myself as I have a lot of
games that I can't backup. (no backup program) Originally I planned
to get Maurader, until they quit making it.
I currently am looking at Project D supposedly they have copy updates
for the new stuff within 3 months. I.E. If you bought ROBOCOP that
just came out, 3 months from now an upgrade would be available to
copy it.
|
| 2907.13 | PD or owned/unsupported | NITMOI::WITHERS | So shines a good deed in a weary world.. | Thu Sep 14 1989 13:32 | 11 |
| Warning! Danger Will Robinson! Software Ethics Question Ahead! :-)
Now that Marauder is no longer being made.. what is the disposition
of the copies that already exist? Are they still under license or
do they enter the public domain unsupported?
[in a way a moot question since one thing maruader won't copy is itself
but anyway..]
George
|
| 2907.14 | .re -1 | HPSCAD::GATULIS | Frank Gatulis | Thu Sep 14 1989 15:09 | 19 |
|
.re -1
Mauruder WILL copy itself. In fact you can simply do a DiskCopy!
My manual indicates that older versions had a "manual" protection
scheme that was removed. I think it happened with brainfile #10.
The current choices seem to be ProjectD, RawCopy, or NIB (which
is PD on the network). Each is very good and each has some
advantages over the other 2.
Even the old Marauder can back up some titles the others can't
touch.
I think you shoud buy em' all (can't have to many toys you know)!
Frank
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| 2907.15 | Sounds like bad hardware | TLE::RMEYERS | Randy Meyers | Tue Sep 19 1989 19:06 | 19 |
| Re: .10
Like CB, I power my system up and down all the time with floppies in the
drive. In fact, the same floppy has been in df0: during a power cycle
for the last six months! I've never had a problem.
Although I remember the bad old days of 8 inch floppies eating diskettes
on power cycle, I've never seen a warning about 3.5 inch disks doing
the same. I've always thought that they added appropriate circuitry
to prevent such problems.
Powering down an Amiga floppy drive in the middle of a read operation
should not hurt the disk. I've done it a few times unintentionally
(cars running into power poles!), and had no ill effects. Powering down
in the middle of a write, however, guarantees an unreadable track.
I suspect that .0 had some time of hardware problem (like misaligned
heads) or virus problem. Correctly functioning Amigas just don't have
the types of problems described in .0!
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