On 3/17/03 Drew wrote: > >>Following this amusing thread on my 1400c, I decided to try drive setup on >>my machine. The LLF option is not grayed out and I am able to check it. >> >>Not saying it works or doesn't hurt the drive, but the option is available. >> >>20gb IBM Travelstar IDE/ATA drive, Sonnet 333MHz G3 upgraded 1400c running >>OS 9.1 48MB Ram. > >I just tried this on my Wallstreet and 5300ce. I selected the >internal hard drive, then went to "Initialization Options..." and the >LLF option is definitely greyed out. I can take screenshots if you >want, but that won't prove my point: the selected drive is not >highlighted when the main DS window is not in front (such as happens >when the Initialization Options dialog is on the screen). > >Wallstreet: OS 9.2.2, IBM TravelStar 40GXN >5300ce: OS 8.6, Stock (Toshiba?) 1.1GB HD > >HOWEVER, if you open Drive Setup and select "Initialization >Options..." without FIRST selecting a hard disk to format, you will >be able to check LLF. Still, when you go to format your IDE HD, it >will not be low level formatted. > >If you don't believe me that Drive Setup greys out the LLF option >when an IDE drive is selected, then believe Apple: >>ATA (IDE) drives internalize tracking and sparing of bad blocks. >>Drive Setup and ATA drivers thus have little control over this >>process. Which is why the low-level format option is dimmed when >>initializing an ATA (IDE) hard drive. >(From: <http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=24764>, "Drive >Setup: Checking for bad blocks")
Some earlier versions of Drive Setup did allow you to choose LLF but never did they actually LLF an ATA drive. It's simply not possible, a modern ATA drive doesn't have the ability to format itself, unlike scsi drives which do. <http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/formatLow-c.html> Perhaps a careful reading of the ATA command set would provide convincing proof, though I was unable to find an actual copy of the various ANSI standards. Here's a couple of places to start your search for the elusive documents: <http://www.ata-atapi.com/hist.htm> <http://www.ansi.org> Along with the above, here's an "I agree" with Drew on this one. Dan K -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PowerBooks list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/powerbooks%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
