Date   : Fri, 27 Nov 1998 13:52:23 +0100
From   : marku@...
Subject: FW: BBC Disc Drive

Here is a forward of a message that Mark Savage sent to me.
I'm not too sure, maybe someone else has an idea ?

Mark

Hope you don't mind me asking you a question, since I don't know who else
can help me (sounds ominous!) I have a problem with my BBC disc drive and
since you have posted a disc drive document on BBC Lives I wonder if you can
shed any light.

My set-up is:
* Model B
* Acorn DFS 1.1
* Pace (TEAC) single sided single density disc drive

My drive has been working fine for ages but all of a sudden it kept giving
random disc error problems (and occasional drive errors). These resulted in
sometimes being able to catalogue the disc but not being able load the files
and sometimes not recognising the disc at all. This went away and it was OK
for another couple of days until it stopped reading any discs at all.

So I borrowed a mates drive (twin double sided double density switchable by
Cumana). It worked for a couple of hours before it started doing the same.
The one noticeable thing with this drive is that when it first worked it was
dead quiet, but now its much more noisy (more like my own drive).

Maybe some potential causes are:
1) I've been using XFER to get files onto my PC [this has been successful
until the drives packed up]
2) I have since noticed that a couple of discs have been scratched by the
either or both drives.

Can scratched discs alter the head alignment? Can any software cause this
type of problem?

Can the Cumana disc aligner help with this type of problem? If so how do I
use it? I've tried it out but can't seem to make it correct the problem.

I would be very grateful if you can help or get me in touch with someone who
can.

Cheers

--
Mark N Savage
Tel: +44 (0)1565 613173
mailto:Mark.Savage@...           

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" - George
Santayana



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