2010-02-03
It is possible to override the sector count for data driven images, currently generic MFM ones.
Zero means use the default size which is the largest sector count found on the entire image.
A positive value means the track image should contain exactly the number of sectors given; fewer sectors will be padded with empty sector data and will give a missing sector error, sectors above the threshold will be discarded and a warning given. This option is a strict rule, hence the error given for different sector counts found.
A negative value means that the track image should not contain more sectors than the “absolute” value of the number given. Fewer sectors will be treated as normal, and at the end of imaging the highest number of sectors will decide the number of sectors per track, sectors above the threshold will be discarded and a warning given
This option is just a guideline to restrict the number of sectors in the image.
These options are especially useful e.g. for imaging the non-protected parts of copy-protected disk (use the guideline value if needed e.g. protection has 16 sectors, but the rest is 9 sectors), or to dump to a format that an emulator or other tool accepts as valid (use whatever strict sector number is needed).
Other work:
It is now possible to set the track distance, i.e. 40+ vs. 80+ track modes.
Changed D64 imager to use track distance.
New calibration mode that can test the maximum track the drive can seek to. It’s limited to 83 for safety. For the record (with the safety turned off) one of our 3.5 drives can seek to 85 (I.e. 86 tracks), and a 5.25 one to 83 (84 tracks).