Messages in this thread | | | Date | Wed, 14 Apr 1999 22:33:26 +0200 (MET DST) | From | "Maciej W. Rozycki" <> | Subject | Re: Low-level format with Sg drivers |
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On Thu, 15 Apr 1999, Chris Wedgwood wrote:
> > Yes, you can. > > How? Sending a SCSI format command to them returns more or less > instantly...
Then how does it happen that scsiformat(8) works for me??? It actually is a wrapper for the SCSI FORMAT_UNIT command.
> > And it makes sense for bad block remapping. Zip disks deteriorate > > gradually when used heavily. > > why is badblocks(8) not sufficient?
Because it makes the usable area of the disk shrink. Whilst formatting makes the drive configure the medium to make use of spare sectors/tracks (automatic remapping is actually controlled with the Error Recovery mode page).
If you are not convinced that Zips do actually have spare sectors then `scsiinfo -d -Fphysical <your_zip_device>' will present you with the manufacturer and the grown defect tables. The latter is usually empty for brand new disks while the former contains a number of entries differing from disk to disk.
-- + Maciej W. Rozycki, Technical University of Gdansk, Poland + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + e-mail: macro@ds2.pg.gda.pl, PGP key available +
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