Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!cs.uoregon.edu!ogicse!zephyr.ens.tek.com!tekgen!sail!keithe From: keithe@sail.LABS.TEK.COM (Keith Ericson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Subject: Re: The Low Level Format And IDE's Message-ID: <9301@sail.LABS.TEK.COM> Date: 8 Apr 91 23:32:43 GMT References: Reply-To: keithe@sail.LABS.TEK.COM (Keith Ericson) Distribution: comp Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR. Lines: 24 In article steveh@tasman.cc.utas.edu.au (Steven Howell) writes: > I Have just installed a new version of dos onto my new VLSI-G5 >system. However the term "format" and "low level format" is now becomming a >hazey one. >... >anyone out there keen to solve this one for me. > [Note to experts: simplified analogy ahead. If you think it's too simple then try to remember the target audience, OK? - kde] Think of a housing developer starting with a fresh plot of land He firps construction is to go in and put in streets, utilities, curbs, etc. This is analogous to the Low Level Formatting. But no one has a place to live yet... Once the streets are in he can come back and start building the houses, to be used, eventually, by the residents who will live in them. Think of this as the High Level Format. Now people can buy the houses and start moving in. (help *) KEITHE()