winscape 2331

Don't blame the hardware. I would look at the MSDOS file system first. A file system that has no fsck (or fixdisk or dskrat ) nor a shutdown-sync command should blow up from time to time.

The disk standards at the time were "ST506" (as in the XT, a de-facto standard, later called "XT"), and the early IDE disks. The XT-AT disks has crc's all right, but it is up to the controller to enforce them.

The controller-disk interface is still analogue in these disks. This was used to increase storage density by using RLL enconding (storing 4 bits in 5 signal inversions) instead of MFM (storing 1 bit in 2 inversions), giving a 60% increase in disk space. Tracks-sectors were also laid out "better" so they go another 15% in extra space there as well, leading to nearly doubling the space on the same disk.

They all have CRCs, although it was commented at the time that the CRC was somewhat weaker than the standard crc-16 used on generally hostile hardware like telecoms.

Late in the life of the AT the IDE interface arrived, a truly digital interface where all the analogue stuff was relegated inside the disk enclosure.

Sounds like file system corruption. Hardware errors would expose you as well as the others.

-- mrr