🚀 go-pugleaf

sroberts@whanganui.ac.nz (Shane Roberts) wrote:

<snip>

>For anyone following this thread, I have just re-read a magazine article that 
>states, with regard to IDE drives:-  "In addition, IDE drives usually operate 
>at a 1:1 interleave.  You cannot change interleave, perform a low-level 
>format, or run low-level disc utilities."  (extract from Computer Bits column, 
>Silicon Chip, October 1992.)

>Caution, there is still some doubt as to whether the foregoing applies to all 
>IDE drives (In my mind, at least. :-)).

>Finally, apologies for the extremely short lines in the original article.  I 
>don't know what happened to cause that.

>Cheers,

>Shane.

Shane, here's what I know.  The response of an IDE drive to the format
command is not well defined.  Various drives may format the track, may
do it badly, or may just come back with either "done" or "error".  

Some IDE drives have a mode to write the track that is not accessed by
normal software.  That encoding method might be proprietary.  Western
Digital Drives seem to need a special program to low level format
them.  It is supposed to take forever.  

Best advice, do not low level format an IDE drive unless you _know_ it
can be done properly, or you have access to the manufacturer's low
level formatting software.

Not a problem on MFM, RLL, ESDI drives.  I think you need some special
software for SCSI drives, mostly to talk to the drivers.

Harvey



>In,In.mbx,S,N
>Trash,Trash.mbx,S,U
>Out,Out.mbx,S,N

*** 
  I just read minds,
  I don't explain them
***