Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:48:02 +0200 From: "Julian Stacey" <jhs@berklix.org> To: freebsd-scsi@freebsd.org Subject: Re: how to format an ide hard disc in a usb enclosure Message-ID: <200809051448.m85Em223012180@fire.js.berklix.net> In-Reply-To: Your message "Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:56:53 EDT." <200809050956.53652.lists@jnielsen.net>
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Hi, Reference: > From: John Nielsen <lists@jnielsen.net> > Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2008 09:56:53 -0400 > Message-id: <200809050956.53652.lists@jnielsen.net> John Nielsen wrote: > On Friday 05 September 2008, Julian Stacey wrote: > > "Alexander Sack" wrote: > > > On Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 4:59 PM, Julian Stacey <jhs@berklix.org> wrote: > > > > I know, hence the background, yes I'm fully aware of all repercusions > > > > thanks :-) > > > > > > Then if you understand IDE, understand what a low-level format really > > > is (was), then you know that this is probably NOT what you want to do > > > on your disk and understand it will NOT fix your problem. > > > > > > Other than some special vendor utility or BIOS utility, low-level > > > format doesn't make sense for IDE disks. There is no command for > > > "format" and trying to reset the geometry like the old days doesn't > > > even apply to modern disks. > > > > > > If you want to try a low-level format tool (for IDE that is probably > > > just writing 0's or 1's to every sector on the disk and letting the > > > hard disk automatically map bad blocks), I would just dd all zero's to > > > it then try to create a filesystem. If you still get media errors, > > > your disk is foobar or about to be foobar, its cheap and you already > > > stated you don't have any critical data on it so buy a new disk! :D > > > > > > In fact Seagate offers a Windows too to do exactly this called > > > ZeroFill: > > > > > > http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=65a8783c970ce010VgnVCM1 > > >00000dd04090aRCRD&locale=en-GB > > > > > > Not trying to be too cheeky here, but I think what you are asking > > > doesn't makes sense...at least to me.... > > > > I do not run Windows, I run FreeBSD. > > Repeat: How can I low level format this dik under FreeBSD ? > > Alexander told you above. It's not a low-level format in the traditional > (circa early 1990's) sense, but will have the same practical result on > modern drives: dd all zero's to the disk. > > Specifically, something like the following will do the trick. I'm using da0 > since that's what you mentioned in your original e-mail Make sure it's > still the correct device.. > dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/da0 bs=1m > > The bs flag isn't mandatory but will let it run quite a bit faster than the > default 512 bytes. > > If you then want to put a UFS2 filesystem on it, I'd suggest the following: > fdisk -I /dev/da0 > bsdlabel -w /dev/da0 > newfs -L myscratchdisk /dev/da0s1a > > If you ever expect to want to boot from the drive, add a -B flag to the > fdisk and bsdlabel commands. Supplying a label to newfs will make the > filesystem show up by name under /dev/ufs/myscratchdisk (or whatever you > call it) so you can mount it reliably even if the device node changes. > > JN > Aargh ! Please, no more superficial responses', if people don't know: Don't answer ! Label & dd noise is Irrelevant. Facts: I want to _Format_ the hardware. Whether others personaly dont _reccomend_ that is irrelevant. FreeBSD Did used to support issuing SCSI commands to low level format a device, at least over scsi cable. IDE devices do support low level format, whether others approve or not, I've `low level (*)' formatted both IDE & SCSI disks lots of times over decades, using eg adapter cards, DOS progs etc, & yes FreeBSD too for scsi (once was a command scsiformat I recall too). Thanks to both for trying, but I still hope for a 1st usefull response. Repeat: Can FreeBSD generate & pass scsi commands over USB that a ISB to IDE enclosure will take & use to format. (*) 'Low Level:' Even the term indicates wrong thinking. 'Format' to people of my background automatically means low level. Prepending 'low level' is just verbiage pandering to [ex] MS community too ignorant to know format for them just meant (on a hard disc) creating an FS, blather about `low level' allows others to distract to labels & personal recomendations etc. I want to _Format_ the disk !! Can FreeBSD do it ? How ? Or must one take disk out of USB enclosure & attach a laptop- to- 3.5"- IDE- size- adapter to format ? Cheers, Julian -- Julian Stacey: BSDUnixLinux C Prog Admin SysEng Consult Munich www.berklix.com Mail plain ASCII text. HTML & Base64 text are spam. www.asciiribbon.org
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