SUMMARY: Seagate ST41200N format.dat entry

From: jmaple@smiley.mitre.org
Date: Fri Mar 05 1993 - 16:21:04 CST


My original Question...

>Hello Sun-Managers,
>
>I need a format.dat entry for a Seagate ST41200N WREN-7. Does anyone have a
>known working entry they could send me?
>

It appears that most managers have used the CDC Wren VII entry without any
problems. This entry didn't work for me. I appeared to have the same
problem that Larry Kelly identified. The problem was that format would not
format to the end of the disk and wouldn't write a label. Larry also
pointed out that he experienced problems with this drive and format on a
SS2 under SunOS releases prior to 4.1.3. I used his format.dat entry and it
worked great. Thanks Larry! He identified a patch that is supposed to
correct the problem, 100343-xx. I found a README file for the patch,
100343-05.README, on a system identified in the sun-managers FAQ.

 sasun1.epfl.ch in /pub/sun-patches

The patch README file identifies the symptoms I was experiencing, but,
mentions that it is obsoleted by 4.1.2 (I'm running 4.1.2 on a Sun IPX) ???
So, maybe there's another iteration of the same patch ??? Anyway, I
haven't tried installing the patch and will just wait until I can upgrade
to 4.1.3. The disk works fine now as is.

Most managers who replied where using the following entry...

disk_type = "CDC Wren VII 94601-12G" \
       : ctlr = SCSI : fmt_time = 4 \
       : cache = 0x11 : trks_zone = 15 : asect = 5 : atrks = 30 \
       : ncyl = 1703 : acyl = 2 : pcyl = 1931 : nhead = 15 : nsect = 80 \
       : rpm = 3597 : bpt = 41301

Here's the entry from Larry that worked for me...

disk_type = "CDC Wren VII 94601-12G-modified" \
        : ctlr = MD21 : fmt_time = 4 \
        : cache = 0x11 : trks_zone = 15 : asect = 5 : atrks = 30 \
        : ncyl = 1690 : acyl = 2 : pcyl = 1931 : nhead = 15 : nsect = 80 \
        : rpm = 3597 : bpt = 41301

Another tidbit from Larry that saved me some time...

You can play with this by increaseing the number of cylinders, (ncyl),
number of
heads (nheads) and/or number of sectors (nsect) a little at a time
until you can write a label.

SCSI addresses the disk by using block numbers. The highest block number
is ncyl * nheads * nsect. This times 512 is the size in bytes.

I also want to say that this list is great! I've seen a lot of good
information pass through this list.

Thanks to the following for the replys:

From: cc_koper@rcvie.co.at (Koper Zangocyan)
From: myk@artel.com (Mike Steadman)
From: ldk@udev.cdc.com (ld kelley x-6857)
From: tommy@boole.att.com
From: morrow@cns.ucalgary.ca (Bill Morrow)
From: Phill St-Louis <phill2@hivnet.ubc.ca>
From: sjf@mod.dsto.gov.au (Stephen Fitzgerald)
From: trdlnk!mike@uunet.UU.NET (Michael Sullivan)

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