[Info-vax] analyze/disk errors

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2013-12-05 20:39:42 +0000, David Froble said:

> I've been aware that the file system needed some way to avoid multiple 
> attempts to use a block that has been determined as "bad", and the 
> mechanism provided was the bad block file/list, so that the block would 
> be "in use" and not free for re-use.
> 
> I wasn't aware there was an intermediate step.

BADBLK.SYS also covers the last fractional cluster at the 
highest-addressed end of the disk — in some cases, and GPT.SYS covers 
it in others — and BADBLK.SYS is also used for (undocumented) disk 
positioning hackery.  It's a "special" file, and one that might not 
react as do other files.  GPT.SYS being another "special" file.


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