SUMMARY: format.dat for Microp 3243 (what?!!@@#)

From: Howard Schultens (hs@demeter.ukps.gwdg.de)
Date: Fri Nov 03 1995 - 05:54:32 CST


Original problems:

===============================================================================

1) can anyone give me a format.dat entry for a Micropolis 3243 4.2 GB
   disk

2) after installing a format.dat entry, I get weird errors.

===============================================================================

The crux:

The questions really should be unnecessary since I received essentially 2 kinds
of reply: RTFFAQ and look at www.micropolis.com. Both sources give the entry:

(Note: this has been corrected so the partition entry works!)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

disk_type = "Micropolis 3243-19" \
      : ctlr = SCSI : fmt_time = 9 : rpm = 7200 \
      : ncyl = 3154 : acyl = 3 : pcyl = 3956 \
      : nhead = 19 : nsect = 139 : bpt = 65536

partition = "Micropolis 3243-19 v1" \
      : disk = "Micropolis 3243-19" : ctlr = SCSI \
      : a = 0 , 66025 : b= 25, 132050 : c = 0 , 8329714 \
      : g = 75 , 4193908 : h= 1663 , 3937731

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I used this and it works fine. This is very DIFFERENT from the format.dat entry
from ftp://ftp.ra.mcs.anl.gov/sun-managers/format.dat:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

disk_type = "MICROPOLIS 3243-19" \
        : ctlr = MDF21 : fmt_time = 9 \
        : ncyl = 4139 : acyl = 2 : pcyl = 4141 \
        : nhead = 19 : nsect = 106 : rpm = 7200 : bpt = 63282

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------begin verbose part--------------------------------------

My problems came from a wrong entry I "cobbled together" (as John DiMarco puts
it). It is not intuitive how ncyl, acyl, and pcyl fit together in the entry
that works.

I received replies from

sunmgrs@concorde.com Fuad Khalid
ashley@india.ti.com Ashley Gilbert
anderson@neon.mitre.org Mark Anderson
balvarad@polaris2.com Bill Alvarado
adam_nevins@ltx.com Adam Nevins
Ken.Dickey@acsacs.com (Ken Dickey - Sr. Systems Engineer for ACS)
Tommy.Lindqvist@space.se Tommy Lindqvist
Vincent.Ackermann@mzmz.ch (Vincent Ackermann)
seanw@belgarath.amgen.com Sean Ward
jdd@db.toronto.edu John DiMarco (sic!)
leibson@pinebush.com Barry Leibson

Important quotes and tips:

1) USE SCSIINFO. Source for this is given in the sun-managers FAQ
   A VERY useful tool for Unix systems.

2) On SunOS 4.1.2, partitions are limited to about 2 GB

3) The bigger vendor companies have web pages with lots of useful information.

4) Barry Leibson had problems with more than one of this model disk. Maybe
   a bad production run. Mine is working fine right now.

5) Read the FAQ -- I finally read it when Fuad Khalid sent it to me.

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