Re: Focus drive fixed

["Mark Cummings" <figjams@primus.com.au>]

I didn't have anything else I could use to format the Focus drive, just the
Focus formatter. As I stated the 500MB is toast, it failed the drive verify
several times.  The replacement 750MB is working like a dream (touch wood).

Mark

----------
In article <9k1cgc$eq0$1@venus.itns.co.za>, Stephen Shaw
<xstephenx@apple2.org.za> wrote:


>Mark try formatting it under another OS. I have resurrected a number of
>Mac/Microsoft formatted drives under GS/OS or ProDOS.
>
>On Thu, 19 Jul 2001 00:41:01 +1000, Mark Cummings wrote:
>
>> A while back there were a few people having problems with their Focus
HDDs,
>> including myself. I had problems booting mine, but booting a system
floppy
>> would mount all the vols. Then running a Check Drive said it was OK !.
>> Eventually I decided to low-level format it using the Focus Format
Utility.
>> If I ran the Verify Drive option I kept getting different block errors
>> which was confusing, but I had read advise that this utility was not the
>> best method so I assumed I should ignore those and use ProSel instead (if
I
>> could ever get that far). Normally I could load System 6 software onto
the
>> HDD and rebooted it 1 or maybe 2 times, before the HDD would play up
again,
>> and I was back to low level stuff again.
>> I had to make a decision on whether the fault was the HDD itself, or the
>> interface. I didn't have any access to another 2.5" mechanism or knew
>> anyone near (within 2000miles) that could test my drive for me, so I
>> decided to bite the bullet and get a new HDD mechanism. I bought a 750M
>> Apple ROM IBM mechanism as it seemed to fit Alltechs recommendations.
>>
>> Anyway, low-level formatted it, partitioned it and set up System 6 on the
>> boot partition, and so far it all seems sweet. Passed every test so far.
>> Except I'm still not happy yet with 25 partitions, but I hope to fix that
>> soon, after some more testing.
>>
>> The only conclusion I can come to on the old drive is that the problem
was
>> in the partition table, and not in the actual partitions. this might
>> explain the problem booting it at least.
>>
>> Others with similar Focus problems (that are out of warranty, or are just
>> cheaper to fix yourself) should consider replacing the drive, which is
the
>> cheapest part of the whole thing. Of course if you have access to another
>> IBM/Toshiba 2.5" HDD to experiment with, that's a better option.
>>
>> Mark
>
>-- 
>Computer funeral service : Ascii to Ascii, Dos to Dos