fdformat doesn't work anymore?

[Malcolm Kay]

On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 19:57, Daniel O'Connor wrote:
> I am trying to format a floppy in a FreeBSD 4.9-mumble system but it spits
> errors on most tracks.
>
> I've tried several floppies, but the result is the same. If I do "dd
> if=/dev/zero of=/dev/fd0c" it completes without error.
>

So this proves you can get nulls from /dev/zero without error.
But having done this will dd read from /dev/fd0c?

> ie ->
> [midget 19:47] ~ >sudo fdformat /dev/fd0c
> Format 1440K floppy `/dev/fd0c'? (y/n): y
> Processing EEEEVEEVEVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEVVVVVVVVVVVE done.
> Errors encountered:
> Cyl Head Sect   Error
>   1    0    5   CRC error in data field
>   2    0    5   CRC error in data field
>   2    1    5   CRC error in data field
>   3    0    5   CRC error in data field
>   3    1    5   CRC error in data field
>   4    0    5   CRC error in data field
>   4    1    5   CRC error in data field
>   5    0    5   CRC error in data field
>   5    1    5   CRC error in data field
>   6    0    5   CRC error in data field
> (Further errors not printed.)
>
> vs
> [midget 19:46] ~ >sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/fd0c
> dd: /dev/fd0c: end of device
> 2881+0 records in
> 2880+0 records out
> 1474560 bytes transferred in 52.879389 secs (27885 bytes/sec)
>
> Nothing is logged in dmesg during fdformat.
>
> I have a
> fdc0: <NEC 72065B or clone> at port 0x3f0-0x3f5,0x3f7 irq 6 drq 2 on isa0
> fdc0: FIFO enabled, 8 bytes threshold
> fd0: <1440-KB 3.5" drive> on fdc0 drive 0
>
> Running on a 1Ghz K7 KT133 system. I tried it in my laptop (Inpsiron 8000
> PIII700, ICH2) with similar results.
> [chowder 19:50] ~ >sudo fdformat -f 1440 /dev/fd0c
> Format 1440K floppy `/dev/fd0c'? (y/n): y
> Processing EEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV done.
> Errors encountered:
> Cyl Head Sect   Error
>   1    0    5   CRC error in data field
>   2    0    5   CRC error in data field
>   2    1    5   CRC error in data field
>   3    0    5   CRC error in data field
>   3    1    5   CRC error in data field
>   4    0    5   CRC error in data field
>   4    1    5   CRC error in data field
>   5    0    5   CRC error in data field
>   5    1    5   CRC error in data field
>   6    0    5   CRC error in data field
> (Further errors not printed.)
>
> Admittedly the disks I've tried are a bit old, but it seems very strange
> that format fails while dd works..

But does dd really work -- can you read from the disk without error?

The fact that the errors are pretty much the same on both machines, I would 
take as a strong indication the the diskettes are due for the rubbish tip.

And I've known batches of old disks to fail from physical distortion of the
media while on the shelf through aging -- long term backup on floppies is 
useless or at least a big gamble.

>
> Floppies do suck but some times they are like Obi Wan.. my only hope
>
> :)

Malcolm Kay