Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!mit-eddie!media-lab!news
From: news@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Remote news user)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: SCSI formatter
Message-ID: <5221@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU>
Date: 14 Feb 91 16:14:23 GMT
References: <12117@helios.TAMU.EDU>
Organization: MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 30

In article <12117@helios.TAMU.EDU> andrewd@cs.tamu.edu (Andrew Ted Duchowski)  
writes:
> In article <1991Feb13.080850.2311@agate.berkeley.edu>  
izumi@fugitive.berkeley.edu (Izumi Ohzawa) writes:
> > [...]
> >>> In article <5214@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU>  rory@fps.com (Thomas (Rory)  
Bolt) writes:
> >>> Here is a shareware disk formatting program for the NeXT. It was written
> >>> specifically for the Fujitsu M226xS family of drives, but it should work
> >
> >2.0's /usr/etc/sdform, I don't think, will allow you to
> >change "bytes/sector" parameter of SCSI disks.  Rory's
> >formatter claims to be able to do this.  Going from 512 bytes/sector
> >to 1024 bytes/sector will give you additional 40MB or so of
> >storage.  For this function alone, his program is worth it.
> >The doc says it does more.

Ugh, I hate posting ambiguous information.  sdform will format
a Maxtor disk at 1024bytes/sector.  I do not know how sdform
decides on this, if there is a way to change it, or if it
adapts itself to the disk.  If I get a real answer about that
one I will post it here.

Remember anyone's lowlevel formatter will DESTROY your data!!! It is
uncommon to have to do a lowlevel format if it has already been done
at the factory!

Pascal Chesnais, Research Specialist, Electronic Publishing Group
Media Laboratory, E15-351, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge, Ma, 02139 (617) 253-0311
email: lacsap@plethora.media.mit.edu (NeXT)