Low-level format (was: Re: AT&T 6300 PC

From: Don Maslin <donm_at_cts.com>
Date: Tue Oct 17 15:50:25 2000

On Tue, 17 Oct 2000, Charles P. Hobbs (SoCalTip) wrote:

>
>
> On Tue, 17 Oct 2000 THETechnoid_at_home.com wrote:
>
> > You can probably format the hard disk by loading DEBUG from floppy and
> > entering the command:
> >
> > "G=C800:5" - omit the quotes.
>
> Can you damage a hard drive, if you put in the wrong numbers (# of
> cylinders, interleave, etc)

I think your chances of physically damaging an old HD as used on XT
class machines that way is rather slim. That said, the wrong figures
for CHT stuff will certainly render it unreadable.

You did, of course, do FDISK and FORMAT after the Low-Level, I presume.

                                                 - don
 
> I had an old 8088 that hadn't seen action in several years. I turned
> it on, and it seemed to boot up and run ok, but the hard drive was full
> of errors.
>
> I thought, "Maybe a low level format will clean it up", as I had done one
> a few years back on an old Leading Edge XT, and it seemed to help. So off
> to Debug, and I did the G=C800:5 thing.
>
> Of course, it asked for the number of cylinders, interleave, and a couple
> of other things. Not knowing....I guessed!
>
> After that I rebooted the computer---and---nothing! Not a peep out
> of the hard drive, and the computer wouldn't start up. It would boot
> off a floppy, but even then, the hard drive was unreadable...
>
>
>
>
Received on Tue Oct 17 2000 - 15:50:25 BST