Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!sun-spots-request
From: cg-atla!weber@cg-atla.agfa.com (Jeff Weber)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun
Subject: Re: 4.0 format vs. stand/diag
Keywords: SunOS
Message-ID: <5259@brazos.Rice.edu>
Date: 23 Feb 90 13:30:01 GMT
Sender: news@rice.edu
Organization: Sun-Spots
Lines: 17
Approved: Sun-Spots@rice.edu
X-Refs:  Original: v9n47
X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 53, message 6

DIAG was no great piece of work but it was faster to use and was better at
non-Sun disks (like it didn't crash).  You could get more work out with
DIAG because you didn't have to mess with loading the kernel all the time.

FORMAT is not as useful (read: j-u-n-k) as DIAG and what is worse it
changes between OS releases and hardware platforms!  There is no excuse
for that from a company like Sun.  FORMAT does have a useful feature in
format.dat (but does it have to be as fragile?).

If I had to (or could) choose between to the two I'd opt for the older
DIAG based on its more solid performance and quicker to loadup and use.
The latter may not be a problem if you only run it once when you install
the system but if you make your living with it.....

I cannot say that the technical differences are there (formatted is
formatted) but DIAG was better at doing the right thing and telling what
was going on.