Re: Vulcan HD Breakthru

["Paul Grammens" <grammens@svn.net>]

"Stephen Shaw" <xstephenx@apple2.org.za> wrote in message
news:a6f4vq$jpu$1@venus.itns.co.za...
> On Wed, 6 Mar 2002 11:02:25 -0800, David Chiu wrote:
>
> > I am not clear on what the HDTEST does when it is told to format an IDE
> > drive, but people should keep in mind that earlier IDE drives may not
like
> > to be "formatted;" some older drives are reduced to a paper weight that
> > way. I think it is by far safer to wipe the partition tables and boot
> > block.
>
> I disagree. I have resurrected a lot of 'paperweight' drives by using
Linux
> FDisk utility. It is much more powerful than the Microsoft utility of the
same
> name. If your HD has gone south after using HDTEST use Spinrite or Linux
Fdisk.
>

I think what David was getting at is that some IDE drives store essential
info on part of the drive. Erasing that makes them into paperweights. I
don't think any ordinary util can recover from that situation because it's
drive-specific.
Of course, a drive can be a paperweight for other reasons. In fact, a 40 meg
IDE drive is inherently a paperweight these days, except for excentric
collectors of antique computers!
-Paul