To Dmitry:

Does ERASE command write zeros? Or does it do LLF?

What is LLF?

LLF is low-level-format.

Ok , what is low-level-format?

You must be kidding, Master Dmitry.

But I am not. I need an answer. From you.

Dmitry, this is one of your best side.
Thank you.

Nope. I am really not kidding, I am trying to make you understand that there is NO "LLF-as-we-all-remember" in this world. After some time, when you will learn drives more deeper, you will understand...

In other words, forgot about LLF and never spell these three letters .

MHDD ERASE does the erase (sic!), i.e., filling everything with zeroes.

Wasn't the real LLF in the age of MFM and RLL HDDs (15 and more years ago)?
Then you had to initiate so called "LOW LEVEL FORMAT" using debug.exe and some "misterious" codes,
enter the list of bad sectors, and after all of that, make partitions and "soft" format.

When IDE HDDs appeared (as I remember, at the end of 1980s, or beginnig of 1990s), LLF disappeared.
Every HDD was low level preformated in factory.
Anybody knows why is this proces unavailable on IDE drives?
More sofisticated disks, integration of controller in the disks electronic or something else?

I simply can't forget LLF, Master Dmitry. I'm still using until today to fix HDs which have somehow lost their LLF integrity. And it worked.

I'm using a prog which does true LLF for IDE drives. When I ask you some questions about your MHDD functions, I'm just verifying it direct from you so that I may be able to use it properly. And it doesn't mean I don't know anything about drives.

But thank you very much for your answer.

Because it does not make sense on IDE drives.

написано 1/3/2005, 21:59:

ruelnov
You can get ATA/ATAPI-2..3 standard somewhere... And see what exactly that IDE-LLF does. It worked for some old WD drives (<10Gb) just because manufacturer was too lazy to implement good defect management.

For all other drives >2Gb LLF does NOTHING (zero loops, nothing written to the surface) or just erase. (again, read some old ATA/ATAPI and see how LLF died )

написано 1/3/2005, 22:02:

So, nothing can be coolest and fastest than MHDD ERASE instead of "LLF".

hmmm...

this is making sense now...


Actually, I really admire your MHDD, Master Dmitry. It is loaded with powerful HD diagnostic tools, and I find the sector read time information during SCAN very useful in diagnosing weak sectors! Nothing comes close to it in my purpose of certifying fixed HDs.

I'm fixing dead HDs day & night and I couldn't live without your MHDD. More power to you!

About the LLF prog that I'm using, it uses vendor-specific commands to implement true IDE LLF. I found it useful in re-initializing sector buffers/headers which have become corrupt for whatever reason.

Does your MHDD have this same functionality?

As to me I use Winhex many of the time to write 0s 55s AAs to the drive.
Fasterase is a good feature also.

pepe

This is what any "vendor-specific LLF" does:

1. create empty g-list.
2. erase all surface with zeroes

mhdd just cannot clear g-lists...

But what's the point in clearing G-List? You mean moving G-List defects to P-List instead?

Yep. Sometimes (in IBM DFT, by example), G-List defects first moved to P-List. But on Fujutsu drives it will be just cleared.

Thank you again, Master Dmitry.

I also noticed that on Seagate drives the G-List is being cleared on LLF. And I think this should not have been done because all bad sectors previously remapped to G-List would now need to be remapped after the LLF.

Hmmm... if the bad sectors were just logical, it makes all sense, because now they are not bad anymore. Or do you mean (statistically speaking), a lot of Seagate drives with a lot of bad sectors? Or maybe you are just talking about a few drives of a specific model with some bug in the controller electronics. Then you would have a lot of logical bad sectors explained. It would not be the first hdd model with that kind of problem, and it won't certainly be the last one.

And about that LLF story... well, since I started seeing a lot of "high tech" secure erase programs implementing the 35 passes surrealistic crap, I got the definitive proof that someone can be a programming genius and at the same time the worst scientific ignorant (at least in electromagnetics) in the solar system. So, please, just ignore that LLF thing and keep up with the good work.

Regards,

Daniel