Quantum Fireball 1080S drive - Medium Format Corrupted
Toby Thain
I have a Quantum Fireball 1080S (1GB) which was bundled with
an Apple Power Macintosh system (approx 6 years old). Recently it became
necessary to format the drive and somehow that process has caused the
drive to report "Medium Format Corrupted" diagnostics on any attempted
operation (e.g. format). Note this is not a
bad sector, but a faulty format (possibly caused by unintentionally
interrupted format process). I have been using NetBSD's scsictl format
command.
I believe this is a soft problem, not a hardware problem, and am writing
to ask if anyone is aware of a remedy. I do not want to throw out a
functioning drive just
because of a format problem!
TIA
Toby
Ron Reaugh
Toby Thain wrote in message <3B3FF2F1...@telegraphics.com.au>...
Try various SCSI cards and try and initiate(and finish) a SCSI Format Unit
command.
Oloruin
"Toby Thain" <to...@telegraphics.com.au> wrote in message
news:3B3FF2F1...@telegraphics.com.au...
>
> I have a Quantum Fireball 1080S (1GB) which was bundled with
> an Apple Power Macintosh system (approx 6 years old). Recently it became
> necessary to format the drive and somehow that process has caused the
> drive to report "Medium Format Corrupted" diagnostics on any attempted
> operation (e.g. format).
What hardware platform are you running on? Host adapter?
It might also be a good idea to find out just what conditions generate that
error message, maybe another newsgroup / distribution tech support can
answer that? Could be very helpful in plotting a course of action...
Have you tried the partitioning command (I forget how it's implemented in
*BSD :) ) to check the partition table and make sure the partition entries
aren't mangled?
scsictrl format... is that netBSD's low-leveller? If so, doesn't look good.
Still, something at the host-adapter level might have better results...
I would try a verify command at the host adapter level. It should tell you
if the drive is really damaged or not, and possibly map out any bad parts.
Note that some verify operations are destructive (data is not preserved --
actually, I've not encountered a non-destructive verify...), but at this
point, it probably doesn't matter... I'd also low-level format afterwards.
If it's still on a mac, I think one of apple's drive initialization programs
may do the trick if the host adapter/chipset doesn't have native support for
those ops, but I can't remember which is which right now. I think Drive
Setup is the right one, and I seem to recall that they were available from
apple's software update area. Should be able to fit one on a macos boot
floppy, though you could probably just boot of a macos CD with a drive of
that vintage being natively supported.
Also, if you can, check the grown defects list before and after the verify.
Might not be easy to do, but if you gain a lot of new entries after
verify/format... could be a sign of a head crash or the drive is on its way
out...
Ellen Geertsema
Toby Thain <to...@telegraphics.com.au> wrote:
>
>I have a Quantum Fireball 1080S (1GB)
>I believe this is a soft problem, not a hardware problem, and am writing
>to ask if anyone is aware of a remedy. I do not want to throw out a
>functioning drive just because of a format problem!
Which firmware version does the drive have? A have a 1080S, too, and
managed to correct a problem by re-flashing the firmware (v. 1242).
I got it from someone at Quantum, and should still have it somewhere.
Ellen
--
Ellen Geertsema "All my life I wanted to be someone;
el...@euronet.nl I guess I should have been more specific."
-- Jane Wagner
Folkert Rienstra
: I have a Quantum Fireball 1080S (1GB) which was bundled with
: an Apple Power Macintosh system (approx 6 years old).
: Recently it became necessary to format the drive
Oh? What pressing reason may that have been?
: and somehow that process has caused the
: drive to report "Medium Format Corrupted" diagnostics on any attempted
: operation (e.g. format).
If it wasn't interrupted then it may be because of a device fault.
Perhaps the same fault that prompted you to LLF?
: Note this is not a bad sector,
It may well be.
: but a faulty format (possibly caused by unintentionally
: interrupted format process).
You don't know?
: I have been using NetBSD's scsictl format command.
:
: I believe this is a soft problem, not a hardware problem, and am writing
: to ask if anyone is aware of a remedy.
Just reissue the LLF command.
: I do not want to throw out a functioning drive just because of a format
: problem!
:
: TIA
: Toby
Toby Thain
>
> "Toby Thain" <to...@telegraphics.com.au> wrote in message news:3B3FF2F1...@telegraphics.com.au...
> :
> : I have a Quantum Fireball 1080S (1GB) which was bundled with
> : an Apple Power Macintosh system (approx 6 years old).
>
> : Recently it became necessary to format the drive
>
> Oh? What pressing reason may that have been?
One sector identified as bad, in NetBSD diagnostics.
>
> : and somehow that process has caused the
> : drive to report "Medium Format Corrupted" diagnostics on any attempted
> : operation (e.g. format).
>
> If it wasn't interrupted then it may be because of a device fault.
> Perhaps the same fault that prompted you to LLF?
>
> : Note this is not a bad sector,
>
> It may well be.
Not now; there's a different problem, caused by a failed low-level
format.
>
> : but a faulty format (possibly caused by unintentionally
> : interrupted format process).
>
> You don't know?
I cannot remember the exact sequence of events, but the drive was fully
functioning prior to a low level format command (except for the one
sector) and after the command (which terminated in a manner I cannot
recall - perhaps by the Medium Format Corrupted error diagnostic, in
which case there may have been some serious unspecified drive problem)
it was a doorstop.
>
> : I have been using NetBSD's scsictl format command.
> :
> : I believe this is a soft problem, not a hardware problem, and am writing
> : to ask if anyone is aware of a remedy.
>
> Just reissue the LLF command.
Unfortunately, the "Medium Format Corrupted" diagnostic results from
executing any command (including format). This appears to be a firmware
logic problem unique to this drive model, triggered by an interrupted
format, and therefore rarely encountered.
(As another poster suggests, I will try formatting it on a Mac, as
Apple's Drive Setup may know enough to fix it - since the drive was
shipped in a Mac.)
T
Folkert Rienstra
"Toby Thain" <to...@telegraphics.com.au> wrote in message news:3B4815F1...@telegraphics.com.au...
: Folkert Rienstra wrote:
: >
: > "Toby Thain" <to...@telegraphics.com.au> wrote in message news:3B3FF2F1...@telegraphics.com.au...
: > :
: > : I have a Quantum Fireball 1080S (1GB) which was bundled with
: > : an Apple Power Macintosh system (approx 6 years old).
: >
: > : Recently it became necessary to format the drive
: >
: > Oh? What pressing reason may that have been?
:
: One sector identified as bad, in NetBSD diagnostics.
:
: >
: > : and somehow that process has caused the
: > : drive to report "Medium Format Corrupted" diagnostics on any
: > : attempted operation (e.g. format).
: >
: > If it wasn't interrupted then it may be because of a device fault.
: > Perhaps the same fault that prompted you to LLF?
: >
: > : Note this is not a bad sector,
: >
: > It may well be.
:
: Not now; there's a different problem, caused by a failed low-level
: format.
Possibly caused by a bad sector. It happens, I had an IBM do that.
:
: >
: > : but a faulty format (possibly caused by unintentionally
: > : interrupted format process).
: >
: > You don't know?
:
: I cannot remember the exact sequence of events, but the drive was fully
: functioning prior to a low level format command (except for the one
: sector) and after the command (which terminated in a manner I cannot
: recall - perhaps by the Medium Format Corrupted error diagnostic, in
: which case there may have been some serious unspecified drive problem)
: it was a doorstop.
Okay, I interpreted 'unintentionally interrupted' as an user error.
:
: >
: > : I have been using NetBSD's scsictl format command.
: > :
: > : I believe this is a soft problem, not a hardware problem, and am writing
: > : to ask if anyone is aware of a remedy.
: >
: > Just reissue the LLF command.
:
: Unfortunately, the "Medium Format Corrupted" diagnostic results from
: executing any command (including format). This appears to be a firmware
: logic problem unique to this drive model, triggered by an interrupted
: format, and therefore rarely encountered.
:
: (As another poster suggests, I will try formatting it on a Mac, as
: Apple's Drive Setup may know enough to fix it - since the drive was
: shipped in a Mac.)
That is one interpretation of 'Just reissue the LLF command'.
:
: T