On Thursday 25 April 2002 14:51, Charles Griffin wrote:
FWIW, when I tried to install SuSE 7.3 on my second hard drive (a Maxtor), which had been subjected to three or four other distro installations, it just wouldn't install. It kept hanging at various points during the installation. So, I went to the Maxtor website, downloaded their little low-level format program, and proceeding to perform a low-level format on the troublesome drive.
The next time I tried to install 7.3, it worked flawlessly. Now, I don't know if the low-level format utility did the trick, or if it was just a coincidence, but I do know that when I get around to trying 8.0, I'll be firing up that little Maxtor utility.
Just my $0.02.
This would be a good example of what I was calling "part 1" of the argument. A low level format is something most people have heard of and know can be good to run on occasion, but relatively few (including me) know what it does exactly. But that wasn't what Mr. Coward was talking about. Now, I'm very far from a hardware expert, so I can't claim to know what an IDE drive does or does not do. Mr. Coward could be talking about the -D option of hdparm, I don't know. My point was just that his method of argument bore all the hallmarks of the classic nut. He may have a (albeit muddled) point, I'm not qualified to say. I do know that I'm not about to take his word for it, and if he wants to be taken seriously he should a) not use a very silly nickname, and b) learn how to argue properly. Anders