Help!!!!!

[kmccorm@access.digex.com (Kevin McCormick)]

Just yesterday I was using my standard Apple 3.5" drive.  I inserted a disk and
it didn't recognize it.  Okay, I thought, the disk must just be messed up.  So,
I put in another disk.  It didn't work either.  Then I tried to format a disk.
It refuses to format.  Only occasionally will it recognize a disk I insert (it
just reads the volume name) and after that, nothing else works.  I've tried
doing a disk verify from the finder - it freezes when there's a 1600 in the
little box.  I've tried Validate under the file menu - never gets past the
first file.  Prosel 16's volume repair block checker does blocks 0-11 fine, but
starts reporting errors on block 12 - it says something like "can't align".
For this reason I think that there's either a stepper motor problem (although
it still moves the head fine) or perhaps a head alignment problem.  Or maybe
one head died, since (if I recall) the first few blocks (possibly 0-11?) are on
one side, and the next few are on the other side.  Does anyone have any idea
what might be wrong, or perhaps how much it would cost to have it repaired?

And related to this, I don't feel like buying a new drive (or used, for that
matter...) so I was considering the Insite floptical.  I know that, in addition
to reading its own 20 Meg disks, it also reads high-density 1.44 Meg disks.  It
also claims to read 720K disks.  But is this MFM (a la IBM) encoded disks, or
the Apple GCR type?  And is it feasible to use the floptical as a replacement
for the 3.5" drive?  Can you boot from it just like you can from the 3.5?

Thanks in advance for anyone's help!

Oh.... and please e-mail any answers to me.  I have a hard time keeping up with
all the articles posted to csa2.

Thanks again.


-- 
Kevin McCormick                           | "The more we try to control, the
kmccorm@access.digex.com                  |  less we are really in control."
IRC: Xenophon                             |        - Robert J. Oppenheimer