From owner-freebsd-scsi Sat Feb 28 08:27:29 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id IAA23643 for freebsd-scsi-outgoing; Sat, 28 Feb 1998 08:27:29 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-scsi@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from uni4nn.gn.iaf.nl (osmium.gn.iaf.nl [193.67.144.12]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id IAA23637 for ; Sat, 28 Feb 1998 08:27:25 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from wilko@yedi.iaf.nl) Received: by uni4nn.gn.iaf.nl with UUCP id AA20578 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for scsi@FreeBSD.ORG); Sat, 28 Feb 1998 17:26:29 +0100 Received: (from wilko@localhost) by yedi.iaf.nl (8.8.7/8.6.12) id JAA21565; Sat, 28 Feb 1998 09:33:32 +0100 (MET) From: Wilko Bulte Message-Id: <199802280833.JAA21565@yedi.iaf.nl> Subject: Re: how long does it take to low level format a 9 GB Baraccuda ? In-Reply-To: <19980227160819.41343@mcs.net> from Karl Denninger at "Feb 27, 98 04:08:19 pm" To: karl@mcs.net (Karl Denninger) Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 09:33:32 +0100 (MET) Cc: sthaug@nethelp.no, andreas@klemm.gtn.com, scsi@FreeBSD.ORG X-Organisation: Private FreeBSD site - Arnhem, The Netherlands X-Pgp-Info: PGP public key at 'finger wilko@freefall.freebsd.org' X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL32 (25)] Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-scsi@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org As Karl Denninger wrote... > On Fri, Feb 27, 1998 at 10:52:36PM +0100, sthaug@nethelp.no wrote: > > > I had to power cycle my machine when a low level format wasn't > > > finished. I felt that this preformatting already took a long > > > time ( > 30 min). > > > > > > Now I connected the drive Led and see the LED blinking > > > during preformat 1 1/2 sec. red light, 1 sec. pause, > > > alternating.... > > > > > > How long do I have to wait to preformat this drive ? > > > > I remember when we got the first 9 GB disks on SunOS systems. If you > > wanted to (low level) format it, you needed to change the definition of > > SD_FMT_TIME (default was a max of 2 hours) and recompile the kernel :-) > > > > So I would *not* be surprised if it takes 3-4 hours. > > > > Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug@nethelp.no > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > > with "unsubscribe freebsd-scsi" in the body of the message > > A couple of hours is about right. We use a lot of Quantum 9G drives here in > our RAID systems, and the RAID controller takes about 2 hours to format one. > > As a matter of good practice, its probably a good idea to turn on a new > drive in its working orientation, allow the temperature to stabilize, and > then low-level format it. There is no reason whatsoever to low-level format a factory-fresh modern SCSI drive. Unless you want 520 bytes/block or something like that (some RAIDs use non-standard block sizes) _ ______________________________________________________________________ | / o / / _ Bulte email: wilko @ yedi.iaf.nl http://www.tcja.nl/~wilko |/|/ / / /( (_) Arnhem, The Netherlands - Do, or do not. There is no 'try' --------------- Support your local daemons: run [Free,Net,Open]BSD Unix -- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-scsi" in the body of the message