Howdy;

What tools and procedures are available for doing a hardware level format on a usb3 sata external hard drive? I'm not talking about simply re-installing an ext4 file system, that allready hasn't worked for getting rid of bad blocks.

Bill

You could zerofill. dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdYX BS=4M. Or if you really want to destroy change zero to random and then do the zero.

1 members found this post helpful.

So you used "-c" (twice) ?.
Else

This is the first time I've heard of, "badblocks".

Please try to be a little less obscure. Used, "-c",
twice on/with what?

It has been several years since I low level formated a hard drive. When I last did it I had to use a utility program supplied by the manufacturer and it took 2 or 3 hours to run. So I googled to see if the hard drive manufacturers still provide low level formatting utilities. Seagate for one still supplies such a utility:

http://knowledge.seagate.com/article...S/FAQ/203931en

-------------------------
Steve Stites

2 members found this post helpful.

The consumer can not perform a true low level format. You can run e2fsck with the -c to check for bad blocks or try running the manufacture's diagnostic program which are usually DOS or windows programs. As far as I know smartctl does not work via USB.

Can you provide some information or error messages pertaining to the drive?

1 members found this post helpful.

I quoted your reference

1 members found this post helpful.

Writing zeros is the modern low level for most users. I'm sure someone does have a real low level format tool.

1 members found this post helpful.

Perhaps I should back up a ways before going forwards. My
machine has just had a 32 to 64 bit hardware upgrade, an
upgrade from 32 to 64 bit Kubuntu 12.04, and a new intel i7
quad processor. This, finally, after many financial delays.

Mostly I'm liking it, aside from minor av quibbles.

Two real similar problems, though near as I can figure they stem from different sources. Anyway, one thing at a time. Error messages for both my Sony scsi DAT tape drive, and my transcend usb 3.0 StoreJet 25M3 1TB external hard drive, are mostly that they are, "read only", though I've also seen, "write protected". This has nothing to do with the little tab on the tape cartridge. Looking around the web
told me the only thing for drives in that condition, was to
format them. Gparted, and kpartition manager wouldn't touch
the usb drive. Looking around some more, I found some raves
about a gnome util called, "palimpsest". I couldn't seem to get it to work, so I rebooted to give everything a fresh
start, and it told me I had over 1400 bad blocks. I then used it to format it, and while it initially looked ok, it
still gave me, "read only", errors.

So now I'm here consulting with you folks. Looks like the
only thing left is to try the zeroing out trick, and then
reformating, yes?

Bill

Well, it looks like its a goner. I zeroed it out, formated
it, and tried it out. Still has the errors. Thanks anyway,
for all the help.

On to the other problem. Anyone got a clue as to why a scsi
tape drive would have a, "read only", problem? The only
thing I can think of that might trigger it, would be the
difference in buffer size between 32 and 64 bit systems. but
if that was the problem tar would be able to make it work
with the, "-b <size>", option, but it isn't cutting the
mustard.

Bill

The device /dev/st0 permissions might be read only. Has the tape drive worked at all since the switch to 64bit OS

No it hasn't. Here's what it shows:

ls -l /dev/st0
crw-rw---- 1 root tape 9, 0 Apr 28 05:14 /dev/st0

Bill

Some mechanical cover or switch on tape cassette causing it to be write protect or the mechanical switch causing it? As above, when noted?

I allready mentioned that's not the case. Tried the cassette switch both ways just to be sure.

Switch?