Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!apple!well!mandel
From: mandel@well.UUCP (Tom Mandel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Disk Crash!
Keywords: reformatting
Message-ID: <11742@well.UUCP>
Date: 19 May 89 17:44:31 GMT
References: <2316@wpi.wpi.edu>
Reply-To: mandel@well.UUCP (Tom Mandel)
Distribution: na
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 17


To attempt a low level format of your crashed XT hard disk you will
need the correct software to do this.  The procedure you indicated
works with some controller cards (Western Electric, I believe),
but not necessarily with others.  If you have a pure IBM machine,
you should get the appropriate low level formatting software from
them...or an IBM dealer.
It may well be that a low level format will fail.  If you really
had a physical crash, then you'll find this out when you try to
reformat at the lower level, as you will start seeing lots of
errors in certain parts of the disk.  If that is the case,
throw your disk away and get a new one.

As a general rule of thumb, disks that start suffering errors
at that level should be trashed and replaced.

--Tom Mandel (a sufferer of several recent hard disk crashes)