From PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Fri Nov 15 10:52:02 2002 Received: from cherry.ease.lsoft.com [209.119.0.109] by dpmail10.doteasy.com with ESMTP (SMTPD32-7.13) id A25242013C; Fri, 15 Nov 2002 10:52:02 -0800 Received: from PEAR.EASE.LSOFT.COM (209.119.0.19) by cherry.ease.lsoft.com (LSMTP for Digital Unix v1.1b) with SMTP id <11.007DD24A@cherry.ease.lsoft.com>; Fri, 15 Nov 2002 13:37:54 -0500 Received: from MITVMA.MIT.EDU by MITVMA.MIT.EDU (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 1.8d) with spool id 6971 for PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU; Fri, 15 Nov 2002 13:37:46 -0500 Received: from MITVMA (NJE origin SMTP@MITVMA) by MITVMA.MIT.EDU (LMail V1.2d/1.8d) with BSMTP id 7240; Fri, 15 Nov 2002 13:35:45 -0500 Received: from zmicro.com [216.103.10.2] by mitvma.mit.edu (IBM VM SMTP Level 320) via TCP with ESMTP ; Fri, 15 Nov 2002 13:35:44 EST X-Comment: mitvma.mit.edu: Mail was sent by zmicro.com Received: from barry (linkgate.zmicro.com [216.103.10.3]) by zmicro.com (8.12.2/8.12.2) with SMTP id gAFIMois022216 for ; Fri, 15 Nov 2002 10:22:51 -0800 (PST) X-Sender: barry_g@zmicro.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Message-ID: <2.2.16.20021115103629.5bef0ffc@zmicro.com> Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 10:22:51 -0800 Reply-To: pic microcontroller discussion list Sender: pic microcontroller discussion list From: Barry Gershenfeld Subject: Re: [EE]: Do floppy drives have any error checking/correction? To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU X-RCPT-TO: Status: R X-UIDL: 277600708 X-Evolution-Source: pop://mailinglist%40farcite.net@mail.farcite.net/ X-Evolution: 00000791-0000 There were some rumors about that the verify didn't really verify, rather it checked for write errors, or it verified against a cache rather than the disk, or some such. What I do when I'm concerned about integrity is to use zip files, then after it's all done, use the -t (test) option in pkzip to force it to read the file back and verify it (uses a 32 bit crc). The nice thing about a floppy is you can easily tell if the disk is being read (rather than a cache buffer). Also, you can use SCANDISK to do a surface scan of a floppy. If you see any errors, don't trust that disk. Barry At 05:18 PM 11/13/02 -0600, you wrote: >I'm wondering about the data integrity of sensitive data files I'm moving >using floppies. If there is an error due to a bad sector, physical problem >with the disk, or any other factors, will the error/lost data be detected? >If so, how does the drive accomplish this detection? > >Thanks! > >Steve Ruse -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.