Erase or Initialize Disk
 
Erase or Initialize Disk in Iomega Tools is similar to Erase Disk under the Finder, but it offers advantages not available under the Finder.  Erase or Initialize Disk in Iomega Tools provides two format options:  a quick Erase Disk and a longer Erase Disk with Surface Verify (useful for repairing a disk that has developed read/write errors).  Erase or Initialize Disk also may allow you to switch to other applications while the disk is formatting.

NOTE:  If you are using PCExchange and you want to change a PC-formatted disk to a Macintosh format, you must use Erase Disk in Iomega Tools.  Due to an Apple bug, the Finder will not allow the format to be changed.

CAUTION:  All of the information on a disk is lost when a disk is erased.  Make sure that any information you may need from a disk has been copied before you erase the disk.

Erase/Initialize Disk offers two erase options:

Erase Disk allows you to quickly erase or prepare a disk for new data.  Using this option is just like using the Erase Disk command in the Finder.  No surface verify is performed with Erase Disk.  This option is very fast but should not be used on disks that are having problems or that may have bad sectors.  

Erase Disk with Surface Verify (also called a low-level format) performs a complete surface verify on the disk as it is erased.  The surface verify checks each sector and replaces bad sectors with spare sectors.  It also restores the pool of spare sectors available for use during read/write operations.  Erase Disk with Surface Verify may take up to 10 minutes to complete on a 100MB Zip disk.  (A 25MB Zip disk will take about 2 minutes.)

This option should be used for all disks that have developed read/write errors.  When you are repairing a disk, make sure you copy any information you need from the disk to another disk before erasing the disk.