> On Sep 27, 2017, at 7:55 AM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk
> <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> ...
> I have never had to do that. The only boxes I ever LLF disks for
> were PDP-11's and VAX. And then, only once, on initial install.
DEC was all over the map as far as disk formatting goes. Some packs were
delivered blank and had to be formatted first (RK05 for example). Some were
delivered formatted and there wasn't any format operation (RL01, RP04). And
then there were the fixed head devices (RC11, RF11, or more accurately RS64 and
RS11 drives) which were delivered formatted, but might have to be reformatted
in the field by specialized field service devices for certain repairs. I've
seen it done on an RF11 that had a head crash, in 1975 in college.
Stranger still are the Pro hard drives, which can be formatted but the tools
are deeply buried; I remember seeing RT11 code that can do it but I don't
remember if other operating systems include the capability.
What VAX drives had a format capability? The PDP-11 ones I can think of
weren't supported on VAX.
paul
