[ale] Newbie install question

[Eric Z. Ayers]

rhiann3n wyrcat writes:
...
 > Further info on the geometry mismatch mentioned above found at:  
 > http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/Large-Disk  
 > (also filled with excellent stuff) which explains in more detail why
 > low-level formatting the drive may be helpful in overcoming the
 > problem.

Now I am curious about the subject - I couldn't find anything
mentioning low level formatting there. 


 > "Eric Z. Ayers" wrote:
 > > 
 > > I don't think you can low-level format most IDE
 > > drives. If this is some big mo IDE drive, maybe you
 > > just need to add 'linear' to the /etc/lilo.conf and
 > > re-run lilo.

 I know I am getting old now, because I remember the bad old days
where MFM and RLL disks would "lose" their low level formats and you
would have to re low-format the disks.  I was under the impression
that  these days were gone forever and that more modern disks for some
reason didn't have this problem.  Maybe I need to look at the
PC-Hardware FAQ?

 > 
 > Personally, I've never encountered a problem low-level formatting any
 > IDE drive (doesn't mean it doesn't exist, just means I've never had that
 > headache), but I have run across numerous BIOS's that could not or would
 > not offer to allow it. My solution so far has been to just pop the drive
 > into a box with an intelligent BIOS, but not everyone has a dozen +/-
 > bootable boxes filling up their living room =).

How recent does this BIOS have to be?  I don't know if I've seen a
BIOS option to low-level format a drive (other than something from a
SCSI BIOS) in a long time.  What kind of BIOS do you have that will do 
this?

-Eric.
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