🚀 go-pugleaf

>IDE drives (typically) come pre-low-level-formatted from the factory
>and, therefore, only require partitioning and high-level formatting.
>However, a (very small) few from certain manufacturers may have not
>been low-leveled or may have lost format due to magnetic fields in
>shipment.  There is *no* danger in low-level formatting these drives
>provided you do it correctly.  There are versions of Disk Manager for
>IDE drives which work very well.  Just be sure the correct parameters
>(and, optionally, sector translation scheme) are used and all will be
>well.

Yes, I re-formatted my IDE drive with software from Maxtor. In the
configuration menu, I was able to choose the specific drive that I had.
This is a real confidence booster. On the down side, they stuck me for
$50 for the software. They told me that a lot of people make the same
mistake that I made, and they are in the process of adding a big warning
label on the drive stating not to perform a low-level format. 

Besides mag. fields in transit, it can be necessary to re-format a
drive that was corrupted by a virus.

tom