On Oct 27, 2008, at 1:32 PM, Dan wrote:
>> A hard disk can't be used "raw". It must be partitioned first, then >> the /partition/ is formatted and that's where your data goes. > > One *formats* a drive. Usually this is done at the factory. The > last step of which is to lay down a partition map (Apple or GID), and > create (non-mountable) partitions to contain drivers and such. Drives haven't been able to be formatted for many moons. Once the drive physical characteristics were changed to delete the ID portion of every sector (the so-called "ID-less" architecture, invented by IBM before they spun-off its San Jose SPD to Hitachi and got out of the disk drive business altogether), drives ceased to be formattable, except at the factory. All drives are shipped as "formatted". The drives could also be shipped with a default "initialization", which could be FAT-32 or something else. When the end-user receives a drive, it is his responsibility to "initialize" it to suit his system, which, for Macs, usually means APM (G4s) or GPM (Intels). Bottom line: after a drive leaves the factory, all writes to the drive are so-called "update writes", never so-called "format writes", as formatting is inhibited for the end-user. True formatting can only be done at the factory using a special test fixture and software, anyway. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
