Update: I was able to reformat but I am not sure if this 2.4 drive is ok or still shot. I first tried to initialize from an external Syqest drive running the 8.6 drive setup. In the options, the low-level option was shaded out, but it did let me choose the zero all data option. It procceeded for about 30 minutes, and the progress bar showed it went nearly to the very end, then it stopped and announced "initialization failed".
I figured that's it, unrecoverable. But, before I went to bed I recalled I stored a disk image of the 8.5 disk tools, made a disk, and it booted up the 6400 into the stark minimalist repair system. I was able to intialize and partition just fine. Then I ran test disk, but that came back with an "unrecovarable error, unable to repair". Would that be something physical, then? Upon that info, I tried to initialize once more, and lo and behold, the floppy boot was able to choose both low-level and zero out options. But the initialization FAILED. Finally, with the floppy still in, I chose initialize with no options, and once again that worked. I copied my stuff back onto a partition and everything is running fine, and most notably, no clicking sounds. My guess is that the zero out earlier did work, since things feel pretty snappy. But should I be concerned there is some sort of fatal physical flaw with the drive? And what is the difference between low-level and zero-out formatting? Why couldn't the external drive choose the lowe-level? Are you supposed to only choose one? __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
