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From: jaugustine on 14 Apr 2010 08:00
Hi,

I have a spare 20G HDD I want to use for non-important "stuff".

When I formatted it using a Windows 98se floppy boot disk, the format
program encountered some bad clusters. Unfortunately, it attempts to
"recover" the bad cluster(s) which takes a long time. I prefer the format
program to "mark" the problem cluster(s) as "Bad", and proceed. I aborted
the format process because it was taking too long.

Note: There are no "switches" (/) in the format command that modify the
"recover" action.

Do you know of a good format program I can download that allows me
to format this hard disk without trying to "recover" problem clusters?

Thank You in Advance, John

PS, Remove "ine" from my email address


From: Grinder on 14 Apr 2010 11:42
On 4/14/2010 7:00 AM, jaugustine(a)verizon.net wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a spare 20G HDD I want to use for non-important "stuff".
>
> When I formatted it using a Windows 98se floppy boot disk, the format
> program encountered some bad clusters. Unfortunately, it attempts to
> "recover" the bad cluster(s) which takes a long time. I prefer the format
> program to "mark" the problem cluster(s) as "Bad", and proceed. I aborted
> the format process because it was taking too long.
>
> Note: There are no "switches" (/) in the format command that modify the
> "recover" action.
>
> Do you know of a good format program I can download that allows me
> to format this hard disk without trying to "recover" problem clusters?
>
> Thank You in Advance, John
>
> PS, Remove "ine" from my email address

I would try whatever utility is available from the disk's manufacturer.
Who made your drive?
From: kony on 15 Apr 2010 17:17
On Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:00:09 -0400, jaugustine(a)verizon.net
wrote:

>Hi,
>
> I have a spare 20G HDD I want to use for non-important "stuff".
>
> When I formatted it using a Windows 98se floppy boot disk, the format
>program encountered some bad clusters. Unfortunately, it attempts to
>"recover" the bad cluster(s) which takes a long time. I prefer the format
>program to "mark" the problem cluster(s) as "Bad", and proceed. I aborted
>the format process because it was taking too long.
>
> Note: There are no "switches" (/) in the format command that modify the
>"recover" action.
>
> Do you know of a good format program I can download that allows me
>to format this hard disk without trying to "recover" problem clusters?
>
> Thank You in Advance, John
>
>PS, Remove "ine" from my email address
>


Unfortunately it really isn't worth the bother even for
"non-important" stuff. By the time a drive that old has
used up its spare sectors and shows bad clusters, it is not
reliable enough for any use.

Besides that you are better off it takes so long, that way
you can let it go unattended and have the drive produce more
bad clusters now rather than after you try to use it, so
those are also marked.
From: Nicholas Dreyer on 15 Apr 2010 23:04
> On Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:00:09 -0400, jaugustine(a)verizon.net wrote:
>
>>
>> Do you know of a good format program I can download that allows me
>>to format this hard disk without trying to "recover" problem clusters?

This may be more than you want, but for non-linux systems (linux, of
course has everything you want for free), BootitNG is a tool that is hard
to beat and comes at a quite reasonable price. Check out

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/comparison-grid.htm

Good luck, Nick
From: jaugustine on 20 Apr 2010 07:53
Hi Nick,

I made email contact with the web site you provided. They do
not have what I am looking for.

John


On 16 Apr 2010 03:04:05 GMT, in alt.comp.hardware you wrote:

>> On Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:00:09 -0400, jaugustine(a)verizon.net wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Do you know of a good format program I can download that allows me
>>>to format this hard disk without trying to "recover" problem clusters?
>
>This may be more than you want, but for non-linux systems (linux, of
>course has everything you want for free), BootitNG is a tool that is hard
>to beat and comes at a quite reasonable price. Check out
>
>http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/comparison-grid.htm
>
>Good luck, Nick

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