| From: | David Oakes |
| Date: | 3 Jan 2000 at 13:38:23 |
| Subject: | Re: Re: Maxtor drive |
From: "David Oakes" <doakes@fox.nstn.ca>
Michael Bourne said to amigaOS3_5:
MB> Both. Low-level formatting was useful on the old "mfm" or ST506
MB> drives. Both ATA "IDE" and SCSI drives usually ignore this
MB> command for the reasons outlined above. To actually do it a
MB> strap or plug has to be inserted on the drive.
MB>
This is wrong. SCSI drives do not store drive descriptors on the disk
itself. AFAIK, only IDE drives do that, which is why many (most?) new
ones fake doing a lowlevel format. I've known a few people that had
to send their older IDE drives back to the manufacturer because they
didn't know not to lowlevel format them and then they couldn't use
them. OTOH, SCSI drives have always been, and AFAIK probably always
will be, capable of lowlevel formatting themselves (on user command),
though it isn't anywhere near as necessary with modern SCSI drives as
it was with those of even five years ago.
I have never had to lowlevel format my 2.1 Gig SCSI drive, but had to
frequently do so with my first 20 Meg SCSI drive (about every three
months) , and somewhat less frequently (semi-annually?) with both a
120 Meg and a 540 Meg SCSI drive.
MB> A low-level format wipes *all* data from the drive and
MB> reconstructs the track, and sectors completely new, when actually
MB> done AFAIK.
Which is exactly what SCSI drives do.
>> There seems to be another form of lowlevel formatting that is
>> typically only done at the factory that is essentially a lowlevel
>> formatting.
MB> yes, but it is the only kind....
For IDE drives perhaps.
MB> For the reasons outlined above: If the drive descriptors are
MB> destroyed they would have to be rebuilt but we don't have the
MB> manufacturers tools and data to do this. So the drive would need
MB> to be returned to be revived.
This is, as I said above, only for IDE drives.
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