Oops! Low-level formatted my IDE drive...

[Linde]

... and now I fear it's bricked! Now it just makes a repetititve noise on startup and is no longer detected by HDToolbox. I read somewhere that the information about cylinders, tracks and blocks etc disappears on low-level formatting old drives. Is there a program to reset this information or something?

It was an old 60MB drive anyway. I'm just making sure it can't be fixed before getting a new one.

EDIT: If I get a new one, can I use one >4GB  if I only partition the first 4 gigs? Like, a new 20GB drive is easier to find in a good condition, so I thought I'd get one of those if possible. Also, any suggestions about hard drives? Which ones aren't compatible?

[Piru]

I fear it's bricked!

Your fear is justified. I believe the drive is gone.

Is there a program to reset this information or something?

I haven't heard of any.

If I get a new one, can I use one >4GB if I only partition the first 4 gigs?

Sure.

Though personally I'd use the >4GB area aswell, it is possible with AmigaOS 3.1 aswell (either with scsi.device 43.x or IDEFix. SFS, PFS3, or FFS with TD64 patch as the filesystem).

[ferrellsl]

I've low-level formatted IDE drives on many occasions in the PC world.  It usually doesn't do any lasting harm.  You'll probabaly have to connect the drive to a PC and use software such as Maxtor's MaxBlast or Seagate's Disk Manager to get it functional again.  Then put the drive back in your Amiga and see what happens.

The software above will query the drive for its parameters and allow you to use it again....at least in PCs anyway.

[Piru]

@ferrellsl

I've low-level formatted IDE drives on many occasions in the PC world.

No you haven't.

You've just zero filled the drives (that's what 'Low Level Format' means these days). These tools will not help here.

The PC Guide: Low-Level Format, Zero-Fill and Diagnostic Utilities

[ferrellsl]

Well, I beg to differ.  As I said earlier I have low-level formatted many drives in the PC world.  It was not a zero-fill operation.  I have done this on old MFM drives and older IDE drives.  I haven't had the need to do this on newer IDE drives or SATA drives.

Maybe the guy who started this thread actually did a zero-fill operation and believes it was a low-level format??!!

[Piru]

@ferrellsl

Well, I beg to differ. As I said earlier I have low-level formatted many drives in the PC world. It was not a zero-fill operation. I have done this on old MFM drives and older IDE drives.

Very old SCSI drives could be low level formatted, however, to my knowlege not IDE drives (I know very old MFM drives could be low level formatted, but didn't these have custom controllers aswell? They weren't IDE IIRC). Got any documentation about these IDE low level format tools?

Maybe the guy who started this thread actually did a zero-fill operation and believes it was a low-level format

No, since zero filled drives appear in HDToolBox just fine. And it doesn't make the drive emit "repetitive noise". Old HDToolBox has Low Level Format option: It sends the LLF command to the drive and waits for completion. Modern IDE drives ignore the command, but older ones might die. It's probable he tried the LLF option of HDToolBox.

[ferrellsl]

You're knowledge is incorrect.

Yes I do have info about those tools.  Seagate Disk Manager v 9.46 will do an IDE low-level format OR a zero-fill operation under the advanced utilties option.  Take your pick.  I'm running the software now and looking at the menu screen.  I have used it successfully many times for both operations.

I can make an image this software and send it to you if you'd like.  Of course it only runs on PCs.  It comes on a boot floppy with a custom OS written by Seagate.

[Piru]

Well, I'll investigate. It's interesting that Seagate themselves say this, however.

[ptek]

Hey, a low lever formatted Amiga HD will never ber recovered on a PC since the Amiga file system is completly unknown to a PC recovey program !

Only an Amiga recovery program would do ...

[ptek]

and I must get to sleep now, since i'm starting to make typos !

[Piru]

@ptek

Hey, a low lever formatted Amiga HD will never ber recovered on a PC since the Amiga file system is completly unknown to a PC recovey program !

Low level format of the drive has nothing to do with filesystems. Thus, this is not true.

[ferrellsl]

The version of Disk Manager that I use is from 1999 so Seagate has probably removed the option to low-level format drives in their more recent software.  I've hung onto this version over the years because it allows me to low-level format...my work requires it at times...and the software also works with drives from other manufacturers as well.  I've used it on Maxtor, Seagate, Western Digital, Fujitsu, etc....I havent had to use it for about 2 years now so I'm curious how it will operate with newer drives, if at all.

I'm willing to send you a copy if you'd like.  The floppy image that I made using WinImage compresses down to 1 MB.

EDIT
Here's a good link to info and some utilities to do low level formatting on IDE drives, as well as other types.  OnTrack's Disk Manager is also the same as Seagate's Disk Manager.

http://www.ameriwebs.net/groupworks/index.html

[uncleted]

Newer IDE drives cannot _really_ be low-level formatted.  Their software won't let you overwrite track 0, which is where the translation software, bad track map, etc. is stored.

[ferrellsl]

The newer IDE drives CAN be low-level formatted in translation mode bu tnot in zoned bit recording mode (ZBR mode).  But you are correct about track 0.   It is preserved and contains the bad track map, and all other information the controller needs to properly communicate with the hard drive.

[uncleted]

Which by definition, isn't a low-level format, as you're still stuck in translation mode.  They just call it a low-level format.

Technically only the manufacturers could perform one these days, unless you have access to ZBR handling hardware.