Hi folks,
I have an HP 9133 HDD that I'm going to have to re-format (for an HP based
measuring system).
The drive already has quite a lot of software on it that it seems a shame to
destroy.
I've stuck a bus analyser on the drive and had a quick look at the data
passing back and forth between a controller and it. I think that I can
control the drive OK (using cs80 protocol) from a PC with HPIB controller
card - i.e. I can identify the drive, check block sizes and pull data off or
write data to the drive.
It strikes me that an application that enables the information on a cs/80
drive to be pulled onto a PC, backed-up on another format (e.g. CD ROM) and
then written back to the cs80 drive would be useful - does such an
application already exist?
With the data clocks off the drive, I'm having a few problems working out
the actual format that HP use to record files on the disk.
It looks as though the first block on the disk (block 0) contains
information about the volume label, number of blocks available, number of
blocks allocated etc. (and I assume the length of the catalog).
The next few blocks seem to contain the catalog information itself - file
names, start locations lengths, file types etc.
Does anyone have access to details of the format that HP use to store files
on cs80 protocol disks/tapes?
(I already have a document 'cs/80 instruction set' dated March 1983 that has
proved invaluable in understanding the messages between the controller and
disk drive.)
Any help much appreciated.
Cheers
Peter Brown
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Received on Tue Apr 15 2003 - 16:26:00 BST