On Sunday 27 March 2005 02:53 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: : This thread comes close to explaining a few things I've wondered about for : a while plus brings up a new definition for low level formatting that seems : way beyond anything I can see useful. Q1)
While I havnt LLF'd a drive in quite a while, its one way to restore a disk that may be failing, or has had problems in the past. LLF utilities will (should) detect errors and either mark them bad, or replace them with "spare blocks". Many manufacturers have LLF utilities for thier drives, but other LLF utilities may work too. : " Important drive information (servo, sector layout, and defect : management, etc.) is stored in the low-level format at the : factory. This information is designed to last the life of the : drive and therefore it is not possible to low level the drive : outside the factory. " So this is not what nyal wants to do? Ive never heard of a disk platter containing "servo" or "sector layout" information... I bet info (if there is such a thing) is contained in rom. : If someone really could do this why would they find it useful to do so? : And can linui read the info? : Q2) Does Powermax just diagnose disk integrity?, or does it does what the : quote in "Q1)" describes storing it in a way that is designed to last the : life of the drive? Or store in in another way. The compatabilty specs for : the software only admit to compatability with $M oses If this is something : that can show linux where it can write to and where it can not it would be : very useful to me. I dont know if Ive used powermax, but I do have some maxtor drives, and they come with a cd with the utilities and stuff, but those programs run under windows (or dos mode). The CD I have is bootable... just pop it in the drive, and reboot the comptuer... (note: this may totally wipe everything on the drive... use proper caution) : : Q3)Shred sounds excellent for removing all traces of previous files, but : 25X?, isn't that overkill? is a LLF utility overkill? Heres a website that may help you with shred, and whats overkill/not overkill. http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000473036054/ : : Q4) I've heard it suggested that 4x through using the dd command to write : zeros through the mbr to the end of the drive is enough hide sensitive old : files, how true is that? dd writes through the MBR? : : I thank any who are patient enough to answer any or all of the above. : : John W Fleming : : : : _______________________________________________ : EUGLUG mailing list : [email protected] : http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug -- People disagree with me. I just ignore them. -- Linus Torvalds, regarding the use of C++ for the Linux kernel _______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list [email protected] http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
