Floppy operation blocks ATA transfer ?

Hi!

While I was performing a "badblocks -nvs /dev/hdb" on VT1, I did a "mcopy some.300k.file a:" and noticed that while the file was written to the floppy, the badblocks process was effectively blocked. The displayed sector number did not advance and the drive LED was not blinking ( or lit ). After the "mcopy" finished, "badblocks" continued. Is this normal and expected behavior ? ( I sure did not expect it )

This is on a RHL 8.0 ( Psyche ) system with kernel-2.4.18-18.8.0

HW is :
Athlon 900, SiS 745 chipset
hda : Teac CD-W540E ( CD-RW )
hdb : Maxtor DiamondMax ( 4D040H2 ) 5400RPM , 40GB ATA100 harddrive hdc : Teac CD-532E-B CDROM
hdd : IBM Deskstar 120GXP , 60GB harddrive

The "some.300k.file" was on /mnt/x which is /dev/hdd2 ( FAT32 )

I know this is a redhat patched kernel, but if any of you has 60 seconds time, please test this on your vanilla-linus ( or any other version for that matter ) kernel and tell me if it happens for you too.

Many thanks !
And please CC me with answers.

Regards,
David "only-amiga-can-really-multitask" Balazic