QUESTION:
Could you tell me what the pattern is for the 400 MB drive
when doing 2 format of the drive?
Would we have to run the formatter three times, changing the
pattern each time? Finally, does the format destroy (overwrite)
ALL data on the disk? If so, how do you verify that everything
has been removed from the disk? Again, we are very concerned
about security.
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A:
1) >>> What is the hex formatting pattern for the 400 MB drive?<<<
The diagnostics formatting pattern for the 400 MB disk is x'00'.
2) >>> How can the formatting pattern be changed? <<<
In order to change the pattern used to format the disk drives, you
will need to create a user-written C-language routine. This routine
would open the special device /dev/rhdisknn (where 'nn' is the
appropriate device number) in character mode and write a desired
pattern from beginning to end of this logical device (which is
associated with a physical volume).
There are standard C library routines which will allow checking of
the EOF status from a device. The C routine could loop on the write
operation until End-of File status is received from the write
operation.
3) >>> Would we have to run the formatter three times, changing the
pattern each time? <<<
It is not necessary to reformat three different times. If a second
pattern is required, the routine could CLOSE the device, RE-OPEN the
device, FSEEK to reposition to the start of the device, then write
the next pattern as needed.
4) >>> Does the format destroy (overwrite) ALL data on the disk? <<<
A format will write over all user-accessible data on the disk. This
will include the boot record, software bad block relocation sectors
and directory, LVM descriptor areas, etc. Only hardware-accessible
areas, such as the hardware bad block directory, cannot be written
over by the user. These areas will not contain any information on
the hardware and nothing regarding the disk contents.
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This item was created from library item Q586936 BJJDD
Additional search words:
BJJDD CHANGE DASD DISC DISKETTE FACILITY FORMAT FORMATTING HARDWARE
IX JUN92 MAINTAIN MAINTENANCE PATTERN RISCSYSTEM RISCSYSU SYS SYSTEM
UNIT
WWQA: ITEM: RTA000023959 ITEM: RTA000023959
Dated: 07/1996 Category: RISCMGMT
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