::Fine. Yes, there should be a fine for stupidity..and it should be payable to all who have to listen to your silly statements. ::To dismiss without investigating is simply ignorant. Well, I could ask about this question with several developers I know. Including Jens Axboe who is one of THE experts on EIDE devices..but you know what. My 12 years of computer experience in both hardware and software make that the most embarrassing question I could think of at this point. ::I started investigating when I couldn't believe manufacturers had hundreds of ::disks on test rigs for hours assiduously doing their low-level formatting. Actually, Western Digital use to have a utility for low-level formatting IDE drives some years ago, but they took it off the general market because people like you couldn't figure out the difference between low-level formatting and a software format. Alas to many drives smoked. ::I realize that this information does not conform to the "rigid orthodoxy", ::but it is something I've checked out in-depth. It's not that it doesn't conform to " rigid orthodoxy " .. it doesn't conform to reality. ::For those who AREN'T into puking on people, research it ::independently. Give it a go. You won't be disappointed. Were not "puking" on you..laughing at you..teasing you..ganging up on your "Cliff Clavin" mentality. Yes, we are doing that. ;) ::The rest of you can sod off. You give Linux a bad name with your crap ::attitudes. Let's see: ::Michael Nelson, ::Ben Rosenberg, ::SuSEnixER, ::Jerry Van Brimmer ::Any more? You give give FUDmeisters a bad name..cause your not good at it. ::Do you have any idea how many people you turn off with this attitude? What a ::bunch of egotistical fecking garbage. If you never use Linux again. I won't lose sleep over it. I guess it's like Forest Gump said " Stupid is as stupid does. " ::Mean people SUCK! Feckin' former IBMers. Actually, I'm technically a former SuSEer. ;) ::BTW, my nick alludes to a practice on Slashdot, which newbies are generally ::not familiar with. Yeah, there is a lot of bullshit assertions thrown out by people who won't back up their claims and in the end there opinions mean exact shite. What's your point? There is so much garbage spewed in talk backs on /. and other sites ..I wouldn't be proud of making silly claims and refusing to back them up. It's just not very intelligent...more like something a 12 year old will do. I hope your having fun .. I wonder what type of mentality gets off on trolling. Seems like a waste of time. And this will be the last word I say on it. If I see mail from you...it's a /dev/null situation. ;) -=Ben --=====-----=====-- mailto:ben@whack.org --=====-- If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little. -GC --=====-----=====--