<html><head></head><body>Go to <a href="http://ultimatebootcd.com">ultimatebootcd.com</a>, download the cd, and burn it. Then boot it. There are some disk wiping utils there. I like copywipe. WARNING, be VERY careful which drive you tell the program to erase. Look at the partition structure. If you tell it to erase your main system drive, it will gladly do so. You could attach your junk drive to a usb housing or to an internal sata port. Try filling the drive with random numbers about 5-6 times. This takes a good bit of time. This lets the controller thoroughly, and repeatedly, analyze and find bad or questionable sectors. Then boot linux and format the drive. Then run disk utility (that's what it's called in Ubuntu) and run a long smart test if you have access to the smart subsystem at all. If all this works, you can probably trust the drive with data. HOWEVER, if the disk utility is showing bad sectors on the drive, it's better to retire it. If you were running Windows, you could run a disk check and read only surface analysis from Windows Explorer from the tools menu. I don't think it's possible to really low level format any more.<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
Ron<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
<br>
Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.<br>
Please excuse my potential brevity.<br>
<br>
(To whom it may concern. My email address has changed. Replying to former<br>
messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong<br>
address. Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)<br>
<br>
(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to<br>
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy<br>
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)<br>
<br>
Ron Frazier<br>
770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.<br>
linuxdude AT <a href="http://techstarship.com">techstarship.com</a><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">Chuck Payne <terrorpup@gmail.com> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap:break-word; font-family: sans-serif">I haven't done a low level format since the days when I ran only SCSI.<br />Can I do a low level format on SATA Drives? I am trying to see if a<br />drive is really toast, or can be save. I am running Linux on the host<br />that it is on.<br /><br />-- <br />Terror PUP a.k.a<br />Chuck "PUP" Payne<br /><br />(678) 636-9678<br /><hr /><br />Discover it! Enjoy it! Share it! openSUSE Linux.<br /><hr /><br />openSUSE -- <a href="en.opensuse.org/User:Terrorpup">en.opensuse.org/User:Terrorpup</a><br />openSUSE Ambassador/openSUSE Member<br />Community Manager -- Southeast Linux Foundation (SELF)<br />skype,twiiter,identica,friendfeed -- terrorpup<br />freenode(irc) --terrorpup/lupinstein<br />Register Linux Userid: 155363<br /><br />Have you tried SUSE Studio? Need to create a Live CD, an app you want<br />to package and distribute , or create your own linux distro. Give SUSE<br />Studio a try. <a href="http://www.susestudio.com">www.susestudio.com</a>.<br />See you at Southeast Linux Fest, June 8-10, 2012 in Charlotte, NC.<br /><a href="http://www.southeastlinuxfest.org">www.southeastlinuxfest.org</a><br /><br /><hr /><br />Ale mailing list<br />Ale@ale.org<br /><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br />See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br /><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br /></pre></blockquote></div></body></html>