Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!ox.com!umich!terminator!yale.citi.umich.edu!lhuston From: lhuston@yale.citi.umich.edu (Larry Huston) Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc Subject: Re: Spinrite II and slow low-level format Message-ID: <1991May29.132538.578@terminator.cc.umich.edu> Date: 29 May 91 13:25:38 GMT References: <91141.003017G22QC@CUNYVM.BITNET> <91148.135325G22QC@CUNYVM.BITNET> Sender: usenet@terminator.cc.umich.edu (usenet news) Reply-To: lhuston@ifs.umich.edu Organization: IFS Project, University of Michigan Lines: 12 The reason that spinrite is slow, is that spinrite is also doing some pattern testing, and the higher depth you use, the more thorough the pattern testing is. If you just want to low-level reformat the disk, you can turn the pattern testing off and it will be about as fast as a normal low-level format. All of this is explained in the manual. -Larry