diagnostic programs

[gvs777]

I would like to "practice" on an old hard drive. want to low-level format it. any suggestions on a good diagnostic program to do this. also, would like some help in "fully understanding memory addressing, offsets, segments, etc.( maybe a book or site i could be directed to. thanks,

[Paleo Pete]

IDE and SCSI hard drives should never be "Low Level Formatted". This is done at the factorym and should never be attempted again, since it will overwrite the sector translation that is writted during the factory LLF procedure. Low Level Formatting is only advisable for MFM and RLL drives. It can be done with the DOS debug command. Try to LLF an IDE or SCSI drive and you'll turn it into a paperweight. Trust me, I've done it...I have a 486 motherboard with a LLF option in BIOS and tried it with a 420 MB IDE drive. It's never been recognized by any motherboard or drive utility since.

Most utilities that currently claim to LLF a drive actually write all 0's to the drive, rather than actually doing a LLF.

also, would like some help in "fully understanding memory addressing, offsets, segments, etc.( maybe a book or site i could be directed to. thanks

You're there already...the PC Guide is one of the best. Go to the home page and click the Topic Index link, and scroll down. You'll find an excellent section on memory, as well as info on about anything else concerning computers you want to know. You can also order a CD version, Charles will be happy to send you one. I don't know what the cost is...

Take a look at my site, posted below, and you'll find a bunch of other links that may be worth browsing through. I have tried to post the best computer related links I can find, and have kept the graphics to a minimum so folks don't have to wait 7 minutes for the page to load, you can get right down to the links in a hurry.

Also, check around at local resale shops and used bookstores, they often have good computer related books at very good prices. The "*** for Dummies" books are basically a waste of time if you're already computer literate, most are designed for people who have little or no computer knowledge. Flea markets and garage sales often turn up some very useful goodies too. I have two boxes of books here from the above sources, never paid more than $2 for any of it. Usually 50¢ or less.

If you can find them, almost any of the A+ certification study guides are worth having. Also take a trip to your local library, they should have a very good assortment of books.



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[kenja]

My US$0.02:

Steer clear of the first edition of McGraw-Hill's "All-in-One A+ Certification Exam Guide".

It appears to have never been proofread by anyone that knew the subject matter (especially the sidebars). Even worse: no glossary, and a lousy index.

I easily passed the exam by using only this study guide, but I've been dabbling (off and on) with "microcomputers" since the 8-bit days of CP/M.

[sleddog]

Originally posted by Paleo Pete:
IDE and SCSI hard drives should never be "Low Level Formatted".


Well now Pete, I *hate* to argue, but... http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Some months ago I salvaged a Fujitsu 2.6gb from an older machine that used disk overlay. I finally found the disk overlay software on the Fujitsu website and downloaded it to remove the overlay. Well it ran fine, "Disk Overlay Successfully Removed", etc. I then tried to fdisk, couldn't access drive. PQMagic also stopped with fatal drive errors.

After a couple hours of trying every trick I knew, I said bugger it and did a low level format. Today that HDD is the primary drive in my old P-Pro running Win95, and my 6 year old daughter is playing Magic School Bus http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Paleo Pete]

Both of my A+ study guides and This Article (http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/format.htm) in the PC Guide (in the Low Level Format section) strongly recommend that IDE and SCSI drives should NOT be low level formatted. at best it's a waste of time, and at worst you can destroy the drive. Usually a zero fill utility is sufficient.

If you tried it and it worked, you got lucky.

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[This message has been edited by Paleo Pete (edited 12-31-2000).]

[sleddog]

Originally posted by Paleo Pete:
Both of my A+ study guides and This Article (http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/format.htm) in the PC Guide (in the Low Level Format section) strongly recommend that IDE and SCSI drives should NOT be low level formatted. at best it's a waste of time, and at worst you can destroy the drive. Usually a zero fill utility is sufficient.

If you tried it and it worked, you got lucky.


That just twigged something in my memory (this experience was a few months back, and it has since been swapped out http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif )

The drive didn't work immediately after a low-level format. I went back to the Fujitsu overlay software, hunted around through the utility section, and found zero fill. I ran this and subsequently the drive worked fine.

So I recant.

One question remains: what the heck is 'zero fill'? (Sorry, but you dealing with a totally untrained DIY hacker here!)

[ixl]

Fortunately the hard disk makers now have protection in their drives to prevent an LLF from causing much trouble. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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Charles M. Kozierok
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Comprehensive PC Reference, Troubleshooting, Optimization and Buyer's Guides...
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[Paleo Pete]

Charles: I'm glad to know that, sure might prevent some big problems from time to time.

Sleddog: Zero-fill is just what it says. It's a utility that writes all 0's to the drive, fills it with 'em. I'm not positive, but I think Ontrack's Disk Manager does just that, and Gibson Research (http://grc.com/default.htm) produces a very good hard drive utility called SpinRite that does the same, along with other very good options. I have the older version of spinRite, and have used it on MFM and IDE drives, and can't wait till I can afford to grab the new version.

Several other zero fill utilities are available, but I know very little about any of them. Disk Manager is the hard drive installation utility that ships with many new hard drives, and is usually available as a download from their websites. They tailor it to that manufacturer's drives, so they are all it sees. Ususally they give it a different name too. Seagate's Disk Wizard, Quantum's DiskGo, Maxtor's MaxBlast etc. I've used all of those, all are identical to the old Disk Manager I had that eventually got corrupted, and my back up floppy turned out to be a junker...

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Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

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