Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!olivea!apple!agate!pasteur!johnm@cory.Berkeley.EDU From: johnm@cory.Berkeley.EDU Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc Subject: Re: Don't low-level format an IDE drive Message-ID: <10026@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> Date: 5 Jan 91 09:39:01 GMT References: <80330006@hpl-opus.hpl.hp.com> Sender: news@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU Reply-To: johnm@cory.Berkeley.EDU Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc Lines: 26 In article <80330006@hpl-opus.hpl.hp.com> knotts@hpl-opus.hpl.hp.com (Tom Knotts) writes: >I am posting this to possibly save others from repeating the same mistake >that I made. > >I bought an IDE disk drive for my AT system from Maxtor (was Miniscribe). >I then proceeded to do a low-level format. Seemed like the thing to do. >Then I found out that these drives are formatted at the factory, and >using standard formatters destroys the defect table. Sure enough, I got >write errors when I tried to use it. The fix is to re-format it using >Maxtor formatting software. This costs $60. > >So... Beware before you do a low-level format on your drives! This sounds like poor design on Maxtor (or Miniscribe's) part. I use Conner IDE drives and haven't had any trouble doing low-level formats. If they require a special formatting program to do low- level formats then that should be included when you purchase the drive. Good luck, John D. Mitchell johnm@cory.Berkeley.EDU #include