nishan@uop.edu (Nishan Sandhar) (11/17/90)
When installing a new hard disk, straight from the manufacturer, is it necessary to low-level format it? Also, the prep program on the gvp series 2 controller does the amiga-dos format for a 40 meg partition in about 5 seconds! Is it perhaps using the quick format switch or something? Is it safe to use quick format when the prepping software prepares the drive for the first time? Please e-mail replies to nishan@uop.edu, because I do not read the news very often. If there is a request for summary, I'll post it soon..... -- -------------------------------------------------- | Nishan Sandhar | University of the Pacific | | nishan@uop.edu | Stockton, CA 95211 | --------------------------------------------------
lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) (11/17/90)
In <27442ef9.1d0a@uop.uop.edu>, nishan@uop.edu (Nishan Sandhar) writes: >When installing a new hard disk, straight from the manufacturer, is it >necessary to low-level format it? > >Also, the prep program on the gvp series 2 controller does the amiga-dos >format for a 40 meg partition in about 5 seconds! Is it perhaps using the >quick format switch or something? Is it safe to use quick format when the >prepping software prepares the drive for the first time? > >Please e-mail replies to nishan@uop.edu, because I do not read the news very >often. If there is a request for summary, I'll post it soon..... This is about the fourth question I have seen today, asking for 'email because I don't read the news often'. I bypassed the others, and was tempted to bypass this one too, foir a number of reasons. First, I think that if you ask a question, and the answer is of general interest, it is better to have the answer posted to the net for the benefit of all. Second, it is far easier for me to just hit the function key within CED to reply to a message than it is to try to dig out the proper mailing address, hoping all the while that the one I decide to use will actually work. Third, I think that if you want the benefit of having questions answered, you might be better off reading the news, since your question might already have been answered. At any rate, to low level format or not... depends on the drive. If it is already low level formatted, as are most embedded SCSI drives, there is no need to redo it. An Amigados format can safely be done with the QUICK flag on a disk that is low level formatted. The only advantage to using a full format is that if you have to later run something like DiskSalv, it will not find all sorts of loose files that were on the disk if it was previusly used on an Amiga (yours or someone else's). Directories and files are not actually erased when they are deleted, so they remain on the disk, but outside the file system links. -larry -- The only things to survive a nuclear war will be cockroaches and IBM PCs. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+