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DISKTEST.TXT
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1988-08-21
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Instructions for DISKTEST Program
Mt. Hood Software
P. O. Box 631
West Linn, OR 97068
GEnie and BIX Mail: JGIBBONS
Copyright (C) 1988, Mt. Hood Software
All Rights Reserved.
This software is provided as limited shareware. It is intended
for free non-commercial use only. You are granted no rights to
distribute this software on a diskette that is sold. However, it
may be exchanged between individuals at no cost, uploaded to any
electronic network, downloaded by individuals, and used in non-
commercial applications provided this documentation is included
with the program. Any user contributions (under $10) would be
appreciated, and will be considered as an incentive to improve the
program. This program may be used in commercial applications
provided you register such use at the above address, and pay $5
for each copy used.
DISKTEST is a simple go/no-go test program for hard disks. It
only tests the first drive, and offers little flexibility in
testing at present.
The program is started by entering the command DISKTEST. It
performs all disk operations using BIOS interrupt $13 and should
work on all systems. There are no write operations in the
program, so it is safe for anyone to use. The first operation is
to report the status information for the drive being tested.
Tests can be aborted at any time by pressing any key. The program
then proceeds to the next test. Pressing control-break will abort
the program.
If the program detects an error reading the disk, it halts with an
error message. You may press return to continue the test or press
control-break to abort. If your disk has locked out bad tracks,
the program will detect this as an error, but they will not be
used by DOS. It is possible to run this test right after doing a
"hard" format (usually done with the DEBUG G=C800:5 command on a
PC/XT), before the FDISK or FORMAT programs are run to prepare the
disk for DOS.
Spin Test
The first few tests check the performance of the disk drive. The
RPM test checks to see if the disk is spinning at a normal rate.
Most disks spin at 3600 +/- 4 RPM. See the note at the end on
timing accuracy if you notice a large deviation from this value.
Interleave Test
The interleave test will check the ability of the disk to read two
sectors within one revolution. If the interleave test reports the
same RPM as the spin test, then the interleave setting is
correct. If the interleave RPM is lower (usually 1/2) than the
spin RPM, then the BIOS software did not request the next sector
soon enough, and another disk spin was necessary to read the
sector. If this is the case, then increase the interleave
setting until the RPMs are equal.
This test will only determine if the interleave is correct for use
with BIOS disk I/O, and does not take into account software
processing time between reads. DOS may take longer to read the
next sector and not give the same results. To take into account
software processing time between sector reads, the interleave
should be set slightly larger than the cutoff point where this
test indicates that the RPMs are equal.
Minimum Seek Time
The head is moved between adjacent tracks, to measure the track-
to-track seek time.
Maximum Seek Time
The head is moved between the furthest two tracks, to measure the
maximum seek time. This may cause your drive to make a bang-bang
noise, but this is not harmful.
Disk Read Test
The complete disk is read and checked for errors. When bad
sectors are encountered, you may press return to continue on with
the test. Many hard disks will have a few bad sectors. The DOS
program, CHKDSK, should report these when run.
The next two tests attempt to shake the heads off the actuator
arm, and should not be performed on a drive that has any suspected
mechanical problems, as they may cause a failure. Normal drives,
in good repair, are designed to operate under these conditions.
These tests do not perform any operations that will not happen in
normal use, they only cover worst case conditions. It is not
suggested that you run these following tests more often than once
a week, as they give the drive a hard workout.
Random Read Test
The head is moved to random sectors to test positioning accuracy.
Again, the drive will possibly make unusual noises, but no harm is
being done.
Harmonic Seek Test
This test starts with a large track-to-track movement, works down
to adjacent tracks, then back up to the large movement. It tests
if any vibrational modes can be generated in the drive, causing
positioning errors.
Notes on Timer Accuracy
Timer accuracy determines the error in the values printed. Due to
the 30 second timing, they are accurate to about 1 part in 30*18
(540) or 0.18 percent. This is about +/- 4 RPM in 3600. Some
clones use non-standard crystals, and this will result in small
timing errors. For example, most drives spin at 3600 RPM, but
some clones will report about 3550 RPM. You should only worry if
the RPM varies more than about +/- 10 between runs of the test, as
this could indicate a bearing friction or drive motor problem.
Due to the timer methods used, the tests will not report the
proper values when used over the timer midnight update interval.
The BIOS time is slightly more accurate for timing than the DOS
time, because DOS converts the BIOS time into 1/100 seconds with
resulting accuracy loss.
Version 1.1 Corrections
The program was found to give slightly inaccurate timing in the
first four tests when run on a PC without an 8087 math chip. The
direct screen output routines of Turbo C were found to operate
slowly with the Cordata clones. All console I/O was redirected to
the standard INT 10 BIOS call.