Anyone know of a Low-Level Format utility for an IDE drive? 2

[Hobbes]

I'm looking for a utility that will allow me to low-level format an IDE drive that got nuked when one of our sales people spilt coffee on his brand new laptop.&nbsp;&nbsp;I've tried Fdisk, and then formatting the drive, but I start getting bad allocation units about a third of the way through.&nbsp;&nbsp;It's an IBM drive (if that makes any difference).&nbsp;&nbsp;I just hate throwing out a drive if I don't have to.<br><br>Thanks in advance,<br>Hobbes

 

[lej]

I suspect your problem is not the platter but more basic than that.

If a liquid containing conductive material, like sugar or other agents are spilled on a drive, it will form new paths for the voltage, current and of course the controlling signals of the device. The problem will be worse if the stuff dries.

I suspect your only hope is to wash (YES WASH) the drive in distilled water and let it dry throuhly. This may eliminate the electrical shorts in the drives controller card. Take what percautions you can to seal any vent holes on the drive.

lol, lej

 

[Guest_imported]

So, uhm any software that can low level hitachi drives out there? i just got a shipment of some bad laptops.. mostly hard drive problems. and would like to low level them
they are Hitachi DK226A-21

 

[Guest_imported]

Acceed,,,,,,,, thaks for the debug script. worked perfectly on my 386 laptop, constantly recieved a devide by zero error from format and fdisk. works like new now. thanks a bunch

 

[brettums]

did you try doing this in a DOS prompt?

FDISK/MBR

(low level format)

-Brett

 

[jakrabit]

my personal favorite for a Low Level Format utility is MAXLLF.exe

a DOS based LLF created by Maxtor... it doesn't care the brand of the drive... i have LLF'd may different brands...

and... FDISK /MBR simply clears the Master Boot Record...