[TriLUG] data recovery---Linux low-level format program available??

[H Brett Bolen]

spinrite is still around.

http://grc.com/sroverview.htm

b\375


burnett at pobox.com wrote:
> On Wed, 20 Mar 2002, al johson wrote:
> 
> 
>>    However, I'm not really talking about a program that will just erase (or
>>wipe a hard drive, or do what used to be called a "high-level format"), but
>>a program which will test a drive to determine where the bad sectors are
>>located and (and this is the most important part:) mark them so that data
>>cannot be written to those sectors in the future!!
> 
> [snip]
> 
>>Then suddenly these programs disappeared and we were told that the new IDE
>>hard drives could not be "low-level formatted" anymore. This may indeed be
>>the case, but I distinctly reading recently that there was a Linux program
>>which could "low-level format" a hard drive.
> 
> 
> It's generally not recommended, not always successful, and not really a
> great idea for modern drives. Still, here's some references and help if
> you want.
> 
> From
> http://rtvpatch.sourceforge.net/utility.html
> "It is highly recommended that you run a low-level format test on your new
> hard drive before you start the upgrade procedure. This requires that you
> download a utility program from your hard drive manufacturer. Maxtor has
> PowerMax, Western Digital has Data Lifeguard Diagnostics, and Quantum
> (now part of Maxtor) has Data Protection System. Follow the instructions
> for the utility program, and then run the destructive low-level format
> option. This will help map out any bad sectors on the
> drive. "
> 
> Links to the mentioned manufacturers' applications are on the webpage
> above.
> 
> From
> http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue31/tag_badblock.html
> "You usually can't "fix" bad clusters --- though you can instruct your OS
> to "map them out" (refuse to use them). There used to be a
>        software package for MS-DOS called Spinrite (Gibson Software?)
> which would do surface analysis of many types of drives and might
>        be able to restore bad clusters to use (although it was never
> recommended).
> 
>        There used to also be procedures for many ST-506 (MFM and RLL) hard
> drives and some SCSI drives which would allow the user to
>        do a "low level format" of the drive. However with modern IDE and
> SCSI drives this option is generally unavailable --- some drives will
>        let you sent the low-level format command to them, and their
> electronics will blithely ignore your command and send a "success" signal
>        back (I've even heard that some will use a suitable delay factor)."
> 
> 
> Other links:
> http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/tutorials/39/4/
> 
> http://www.computing.net/dos/wwwboard/forum/8277.html
> 
> regards,
> Steve Burnett
> burnett at pobox.com
> 
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