Formatting A Hard Disk; Starting The Program; Formatting A New Disk - Epson NX Service Manual

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Formatting

Formatting a Hard Disk

This section describes how to low-level (or physically) format a hard disk. This procedure
should not be confused with the logical format performed by the operating system. The
physical formatting of a hard disk is a separate step that is usually done at the factory by the
disk manufacturer.
If the computer came with a factory-installed hard disk, or if you installed an optional IDE
hard disk from Epson, it has already been physically formatted. You need only follow the
instructions in the operating system manual to prepare the hard disk for use.
You may need to use the procedure in this section to physically format a hard disk if you
installed a non-Epson hard disk in the computer that has never received the low-level format
and did not come with its own format utility. If you installed a hard disk that came with its
own format utility, use that program to physically format the disk.
Caution Physically formatting a hard disk erases any data it contains.
Be sure to back up any data on the hard disk before you format it. In
addition to destroying all the data on the hard disk, formatting removes
any partitions and logical formatting defined on the disk by the operating
system. After you physically format a new or used hard disk, you need to
logically format the disk again using the operating system.

Starting the Program

Follow these steps to start the hard disk formatting program:
1 Insert the Reference diskette in drive A and start the system.
2 Type
HDFMTALL
You see the Hard Disk Format Menu:
1 - Format
2 - Destructive
3 - Non-destructive
0 - Exit
The option you choose depends on whether you are formatting a new disk or
reformatting a used disk. The options work as follows:
Format first scans the disk for defective (bad) tracks (if it has no defective track
table) and lets you decide which tracks to mark as bad. Then it formats the disk and
marks the bad tracks so they are never used to store data.
D e s t r u c t i v e surface analysis tests the entire disk for read/write errors or
unflagged bad tracks and updates the defective track table. Because this option writes
and reads data on the disk, it destroys all data on any track that produces an error. Y
Non-destructive surface analysis checks the disk for unflagged bad
tracks without destroying data. You
B-24
and press Enter.
surface
analysis
analysis
OU