hard drive parameters?

This is simple.  Use the one the manufacturer says to. Any other landing zone, especially can damage the drive.

If the landing zone is not as the manufacturer says is should be, then if you move the drive when it is turned off, it can be damaged

RoseFIre

Just be 100% certain that you have the right drive specification from the manufacturer.  If you want to be certain that the manufacturer didn't make a mistake in their documentation, check their web site.  

RoseFire

Sorry Rosefire, you're absolutely incorrect on this one (if we are referring to IDE drives)!

All IDE hard drives (including your Maxtor) have a feature called auto translation.  This means that the auto-detect in your bios is all that is necessary.  

An incorrect landing zone will *not* damage a hard drive.   All IDE hard drives park on power down.   Setting this value has absolutely no relevance because it is ignored.

Keeping in mind that you can't possibly know whether or not I know what I talking about, here is a web reference to confirm what I've written: (see bottom of page)
http://www.maxtor.com/technology/ide_cmos_7k.html

Take care,
Shawn

Sconnell is right. Since many years ago, all IDE disks have an auto-park feature, disregarding any value specified at "Land zone". That ensures disk will always park correctly with no problem each time the machine is powered down.

"Land" and "Pcomp" are old parameters, which are maintained solely to give compatibility with ancient RLL drives or some other antiquities like those.

OK, I stand corrected. I knew these were dated fields,  I just wondered what happens when you actually tell the thing to use the wrong location.   I agree that it would probably cause no harm to put the wrong values in since these fields are ignored and dated. Thank you for bringing me up to date on my understanding of this.

However....

In general, I would still do what the manufacturer says to do over what the autodetect suggests.  I am an electrical engineer and I believe what the manufacturer tells me over what the hardware does virtually every time.  My assertion that, when in doubt,  you should still do what the manufacturer says is still my opinion.  It is just good policy.  This is true even if you think it doesn't matter. I have seen cases where, surprise, it does and.... well, the smell of burnt components is one I don't much care for.

In this situation, I now agree,  it is ***very*** unlikely to make a difference.  There is no risk to the drive.  Again, thank you vikiing and shawn.

RoseFire

Friend RoseFire:
>My assertion that, when in doubt,  you should still do what the manufacturer says is still my opinion.  It is just good policy

Sure, you're right; and I also react the same way. But you said the precise word: "when IN DOUBT". If you're sure Pcomp value means nothing for a newer IDE disk, you certainly know there will be no problem no matter what value you state there.

On the other hand, you also know that if you buy an electric plug, and you read "20 A" on its face, you CAN NOT connect a 20A device with it, ¿can you?... :) :)

not the proposed answer is WRONG completely. I own Maxtor Hardrives. and the Hardrive is not Damage. as some already comments say the feature does not matter.
to explain a little better the LBA in the BIOS do not use those parameters. in some cases it will not even let you change to other value(some other brands of motherboard).
Normal setup is where you put those values. which are not used anymore. maybe 8 to 10 yrs ago they were still used. in small hardrives.
Drrowe, please reject the answer, It is not a the correct answer and It will not be right to give a wrong answer to you. and then others will look for the INFO and think it is correct which is not.

>>not the proposed answer is WRONG completely= I meant is wrong.
 
if just an EDIT feature comment were created like QUESTIOn edition feature, it will be nice. ;p

it appears that landing zone and write precomp are older parameter requirements and are no longer needed with the new IDE hard drives

viking, we are in violent agreement. ;-)  I would have taken back the answer if it was possible. Hmm.  Perhaps a suggestion to EE.  My information was dated.  At any rate, it looks like sconnell should post an answer.  (and soon so I can wipe the egg off my face. ;-)

RoseFire

all right problem solved. Get a refund for the points and leave everybody like that hehehehehe ;p.

Wow!  This question sure generated a lot a traffic!!
Wish I could get this kind of traffic on some of my outstanding questions.  :-]

I won't answer this question unless drrowe offers the points to me.

In short: VC (voice coil) based head assemblies = ignores anything you enter.

SM (stepper motor) based head assemblies = Needs the parameter.

j2: Not true J2.  
It is the electronics/firmware on the IDE drive that does the auto-translation which ignores BIOS HD geometry parameters.  
It is simply a coincidence, based on the age of the technology, that SM assemblies more often required specific BIOS settings.

Incidentally, stepper motor assemblies became obsolete as media densities increased; stepper motors are far less precise than voice coils and prone to alignment problems caused by friction.

However, stepper motors are still used in floppy drives.

Shawn

Yes? thats what i said, isnt it?

ANd since you are picking on how i "worded" that comment, im amazed you didnt write "How does a head assembly ignore anything?"

And FYI.. i remember the time when head assemblies were _hydraulical_

>And FYI.. i remember the time when head assemblies were _hydraulical

Lovely old times !!!; when a disk system needed a change of oil...  :~~)

this is straying a tad off topic.. but yeah.. a 28" 60lbs disc assembly with hydraulic heads and a storage capacity ok just over 460kilobyte. :)

How old are you guys?   I don't even remember the 60lbs drives! :-)
The earliest HD I owned was a 5mb, 30 pounder.  I did, however, help out in a VAX 11/785(780)lab (while in high school '85), 8mb of memory and they were using 400 Ms Winchester disc drive head-disc assemblies of 500mb.  Huge devices by todays standards.

Yes, off-topic! :-)   What happened to drrowe?

actually.. im only 24.. but we had one of thsoe old DataSAAB monsters (DataGeneral rip off)  at my school.. i kidna liked it.. and based a cpl of essays / assignmets around it in my last year of highschool :)

I have 41, and started to deal with machines in '75.

But about '80, I had to do a certain job with the first computer that came to this country, a Mercury-Ferranti machine which fell here at 1962, four Buenos Aires University.

That machine had hydraulic disks.

43 here.  I am a computer engineer.  Designed computers for 10 years then went to work for an HP imaging/printing division.  My dad designed computers.  The first computer I saw had hand-wound memory cores and was called "Wisco".  Then  came the card decks.

RoseFire

Can I offer the question to someone else to accept their answer? sconnell or vikiing?

I think Sconnell deserves the points; he was more precise than me, and gave you an address where to look about this matter.

Sconnell: in cases like this, I think it's good to re-post the actual answer; so, who buys it, has not to read all the thread to find the right response, instead a phrase saying "Happy New Year"...  ;)