Frequently Asked Questions on Hard Drives (2)

1. How to Install a Single ATA Hard Drive in DOS & Win 95?
2. How to Install a Second ATA Hard Drive?
3. How to Partitioning an ATA Drive in a Windows 95/98 Environment?
4. How to Troubleshoot Master/Slave Problems?
5. Dual Port/Dual Channel ATA - Secondary Port Not Working
6. How to Overcome the 8.4-Gbyte Barrier?
7. How to Low-Level Format an ATA (IDE) Hard Drive?

1. How to Install a Single ATA Hard Drive in DOS & Win 95?
   
   Please read this document thoroughly! These instructions were designed to help you install the hard drive in the simplest manner and with the fewest steps. They will apply to most PC systems, but certainly not all. For detailed instructions on your particular computer or DOS, please refer to the appropriate manuals. If you are unfamiliar with any of the procedures outlined here, if these instructions do not produce the desired results, or if you have any questions at all about this procedure, please feel free to call our Technical Support department.
   
   If your system does not support LBA (logical block addressing) and the drive being installed is more than 504 (528) Mbytes, you will need a copy of either DiscWizard or Disk Manager to access the full capacity of the drive.
   1. If you are replacing an existing drive, BACK UP YOUR DATA!
      
      
   2. Locate your DOS or Windows 95 installation diskettes.
      
      
   3. Set the jumpers on the drive to the Single drive (C:) setting. This is the default jumper setting from the factory on Seagate and Conner drives, but you should check it.
      
      
   4. Power off the computer. Please follow all appropriate electrical precautions listed in the system manual.
      
      
   5. Following the manufacturer's instructions, open the computer case.
      
      
   6. Electro-Static Discharge (ESD) is quite hazardous to certain computer components, such as motherboards. Bearing that in mind, you should ground yourself to the case of the machine. If you do not have a wrist strap, repeatedly touching the case each time you touch a part of the computer will safely discharge any static electricity.
      
      
   7. Physically install the drive following the instructions provided with the computer or drive. Use EXTREME care when selecting and inserting mounting screws. Damage to the printed circuit board is possible if screws are inserted too far into the side mounting holes of some drives. Check hard drive documentation for requirements.
      
      
   8. Connect a power cable from the power supply to the drive. (With the exception of some older drives, this will generally be a 4-pin power cable.)
      
      
   9. Connect the ATA 40-pin ribbon cable from the ATA controller card or motherboard's primary ATA port to the drive. Make sure the colored strip of the cable (indicating pin 1) is inserted toward pin 1 of the host adapter port and toward the large 4-pin power connector on the hard drive.
      
      
   10. If the computer has a CD-ROM drive installed on the primary port, temporarily disconnect its ribbon cable now. This is purely preventative. Hard drive installation is our concern at this point.
       
       
   11. Double-check all the above steps.
       
       
   12. Insert the DOS or Windows 95 system diskette. Power on the computer and follow the on-screen prompts or the computer manual's instructions to enter the BIOS (also known as CMOS or SETUP).
       
       
   13. Allow the BIOS to "AUTO-DETECT" the drive. If the system returns the correct parameters, as given in the drive manual, proceed. If the system returns values that don't match the drive's parameters, but the drive's capacity is approximately correct, this is also acceptable. If your BIOS does not have an AUTO-DETECT feature, set the drive type to the user definable setting. Manually enter the parameters defined in the documentation. If the drive's capacity is over 528 Mbytes, enable LBA mode. Save your changes and exit the BIOS.
       
       
   14. Boot the system from the DOS or Windows 95 system diskette.
       
       
   15. If you are installing the drive without Disk Manager, please proceed with step 15.
       
       
   16. If you are using either Disk Manager or DiscWizard, please proceed with step 21.
       
       
   17. Follow the on-screen instructions. The installation diskettes will guide you through creating a partition, formatting your drive, and properly installing the operating system.
       
       
   18. After the operating system has been installed, remove the remaining diskette and reboot. Your system should boot from the hard drive and be ready for use.
       
       
   19. If you disconnected a CD-ROM drive in step 10, follow the instructions provided with the CD-ROM drive to reinstall it now. Make sure there is no power to the system while you are reconnecting the drive.
       
       Note: If you installed the operating system (OS) from scratch (as in the above instructions), you will need to reinstall the CD-ROM software. If the OS was reinstalled from a backup, you may only need to reconnect the CD-ROM drive and reboot the system.
       
       
   20. Power on the computer and ensure everything is working properly.
       
       
   21. If everything seems OK, power off the computer and follow the manufacturer's instructions to close the computer case.
       
       
   22. Proceed to step 25.
       
       
   23. If you are using either Disk Manager or DiscWizard diskettes, Disk Manager will be on the diskette. Exit the OS installation program to an A: prompt.
       
       
   24. Remove the OS installation diskette and insert the Disk Manager or DiscWizard diskette. Type DM to start Disk Manager.
       
       
   25. Select "Easy Disk Installation" and follow the instructions from Disk Manager to install (partition and format) the drive.
       
       
   26. When the drive is finished installing, exit Disk Manager. Remove the diskette and reboot the system from the hard drive.
       
       If you backed up an existing drive in Step 1, reinstall your backup software and restore your system.

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2. How to Install a Second ATA Hard Drive?
   
   Please read this document thoroughly! These instructions are designed to help you install the hard drive in the simplest manner with the least number of steps. They will apply to most PC systems, but certainly not all. For detailed instructions on your particular system or DOS, please refer to the appropriate manuals. If you are unfamiliar with any of the procedures outlined here, if these instructions do not produce the desired results, or if you have any questions at all about this procedure, please feel free to call our Technical Support department.
   
   This procedure is outlined to help you install a second drive as a slave unit. If you are installing the drive as the eventual master drive or on a secondary controller as a master drive, please refer to "Installing a Single ATA Hard Drive".
   
   If your system does not support LBA (logical block addressing) and the drive being installed is more than 504 (528) Mbytes, you will need a copy of either DiscWizard or Disk Manager to access the full capacity of the drive.
   
   
   1. BACK UP YOUR DATA! You will be creating a partition with FDISK and then DOS formatting your hard drive. This will erase all data.
      
      
   2. Locate your DOS installation diskettes or a DOS system diskette with FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM.
      
      
   3. Locate the jumper documentation for both hard drives.
      
      
   4. Set the jumpers on the new drive to the slave setting.
      
      Note: Some Conner drives have a compatibility jumper. If you are installing a Conner drive that has such a jumper and the master is more than 170 Mbytes, we recommend setting the master drive for ATA mode. If the master drive is smaller than 170 Mbytes, please consult the drive manufacturer to see if it is ATA compatible.
      
      
   5. Power off the computer. Please follow all appropriate electrical precautions listed in the system manual.
      
      
   6. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, open the computer case.
      
      
   7. Electro-Static Discharge (ESD) is quite hazardous to certain computer components, such as motherboards. Bearing that in mind, you should ground yourself to the case of the machine. If you do not have a wrist strap, repeatedly touching the case each time you touch a part of the computer will safely discharge any static electricity.
      
      
   8. Set the jumpers on the master drive to "master with slave present". Some drives may have one setting for both single and master and, therefore, will not need any jumper changes.
      
      
   9. If the master is a Conner drive, see the note in step 4.
      
      
   10. Physically install the drive following the instructions provided with the computer or drive. Use EXTREME care when selecting and inserting mounting screws. Damage to the printed circuit board is possible if screws are inserted too far into the side mounting holes of some drives. Check the hard drive documentation for requirements.
       
       
   11. Connect a power cable from the power supply to the drive. (With the exception of some older drives, this will generally be a 4 pin power cable.)
       
       
   12. Connect the ATA 40-pin ribbon cable from the ATA controller card or the motherboard’s primary ATA port to the drive (or secondary port, if installing the drive as a slave on the secondary port). Make sure the colored strip of the cable (indicating pin 1) is inserted toward pin 1 of the host adapter port, and toward the large 4-pin power connector on the hard drive.
       
       
   13. If the computer has an ATA CD-ROM drive installed, temporarily disconnect it from the ribbon cable. This is purely preventative. Hard drive installation is our concern at this point.
       
       
   14. Double check all the above steps.
       
       
   15. Insert the DOS or Windows 95 system diskette. Power on the computer and follow the on-screen prompts or the computer manual's instructions to go into the BIOS (also known as CMOS or SETUP).
       
       
   16. Allow the BIOS to "AUTO-DETECT" the new drive. If the system returns the correct parameters, as given in the drive manual, proceed. If the system returns values that do not match the drive’s parameters, but the drive’s capacity is approximately correct, this is also acceptable. If your BIOS does not have an AUTO-DETECT feature, set the drive type to the user definable setting. Manually enter the parameters defined in the documentation. If the drive's capacity is over 528 Mbytes, enable LBA mode. Save your changes and exit the BIOS.
       
       
   17. Boot the system from the DOS or Windows 95 system diskette. If you are installing the drive without Disk Manager or DiscWizard, please proceed with step 17.
       
       If you are using either Disk Manager or DiscWizard, please proceed with step 25.
       
       If the DOS or Windows 95 system diskette boots into an installation program, follow the on-screen instructions to exit the program to a prompt.
       
       
   18. Type FDISK and press ENTER to start FDISK.EXE.
       
       
   19. From the main menu, select option 5 to switch to the appropriate hard drive.
       
       
   20. Follow the DOS or Windows 95 manual instructions for creating partitions on the drive. Remember to create logical drives in any extended partitions you create.
       
       
   21. Exit FDISK (press ESC) and reboot the system from a bootable diskette. If you need to exit an install program, do so after the system completes booting.
       
       
   22. Run FDISK again and use option 5 to switch to the drive on which the partitions were created in step 20. Use option 4 to check the drive letters assigned to the new hard drive. Note the assigned drive letters and exit FDISK.
       
       
   23. Run the DOS FORMAT command for the appropriate drive letters created. (Example: type Format D: and press ENTER.)
       
       
   24. Check each partition after formatting to ensure it is accessible and capable of storing data (any file will do). The drive should be ready to use at this point. Skip to step 30.
       
       
   25. If you are using either Disk Manager or DiscWizard diskettes, Disk Manager will be on the diskette. To run Disk Manager, exit the operating system (OS) installation program to an A: prompt.
       
       
   26. Remove the OS installation diskette and insert the Disk Manager or DiscWizard diskette. Type DM to start the Disk Manager program.
       
       
   27. Select "Easy Disk Installation" and follow the instructions from Disk Manager to install (partition and format) the drive. The program will show you the installed drives when you attempt to run the easy disk installation. Make sure it reflects each drive accurately and in the correct position (master or slave).
       
       
   28. When the drive is finished installing, exit Disk Manager. Remove the diskette from the floppy drive and reboot the system from the hard drive.
       
       
   29. Check each partition after rebooting to ensure it is accessible and capable of storing data (any file will do). The drive should be ready to use at this point.
       
       
   30. If you disconnected a CD-ROM drive in step 10, follow the instructions provided with the CD-ROM drive to reinstall it now. Make sure there is no power to the system while you are reconnecting the drive.
       
       Note: If you installed the OS from scratch (as in the above instructions), you will need to reinstall the CD-ROM software. If the OS was reinstalled from a backup, you may only need to reconnect the CD-ROM drive and reboot the system.
       
       
   31. Power on the computer and ensure everything is working properly.
       
       
   32. If everything seems OK, power off the computer and follow the manufacturer’s instructions to close the computer case.

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3. How to Partitioning an ATA Drive in a Windows 95/98 Environment?
   
   To avoid possible data loss, back up your existing data and make sure all hardware is configured correctly before attempting to setup the new hard disc.
   
   If you are installing a second hard disc, and the first one was installed using Disk Manager?or EZ-Drive? use that software to install your new hard disc. Do not use the following steps or you may not be able to access the full capacity of your drive.
   
   
   1. Boot the computer with a Windows 95/98 Startup Diskette.
      
      
   2. At the A:\ prompt, type FDISK and press ENTER.
      
      Note: If the computer asks, "Do you wish to enable large disk support? Y or N", you are using Windows 95 OSR2 or Windows 98. In order to use FAT32, the drive must be greater than 512 Mbytes in capacity and the partition size you select must be greater than 512 Mbytes. FAT16 will be used if you answer no to this question.
      
      Note: If you have more than one hard disc in your computer, the FDISK Options Menu will contain 5 choices. If there are only 4 options in the menu, skip to step 4.
      
      
   3. Select option 5 (Change current fixed disk drive) and choose the new disc drive from the list.
      
      
   4. Select option 4 (Display Partition Information). You should see the message "No Partitions Defined".
      
      
   5. Press ESC to return to the FDISK Options Menu.
      
      
   6. Select option 1 (Create DOS partition or Logical DOS drive).
      
      
   7. Select option 1 (Create Primary DOS Partition).
      
      
   8. When the computer asks "Do you wish to use the maximum available size for a Primary DOS Partition and make the partition active? Type "Y" for Yes and press ENTER.
      
      
   9. Press ESC repeatedly until you exit from FDISK back to the A:\ prompt.
      
      
   10. Press CTRL, ALT, and DEL simultaneously to reboot the computer.
       
       Note: If your new hard disc will be your primary boot drive and you intend to install Windows 95 or 98, boot with your Windows 95/98 installation diskette and follow the instructions for installation. Otherwise, boot into windows.
       
       
   11. Once in Windows, double click on My Computer icon. The new drive letter icon should be displayed. Right click on the drive icon and select FORMAT from the dialogue box. From the Format Options Menu, select Full Format and Start.

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4. How to Troubleshoot Master/Slave Problems?
   
   One ATA (IDE) drive on the ribbon cable is referred to as a single drive. Two ATA drives physically plugged into the same 40-pin ribbon cable are paired in a master/slave set up. The drive jumpered as the boot drive is the C: or master drive. The drive jumpered as the non-boot drive is the slave drive. It is usually designated as the D: drive. Two ATA drives physically on two separate ribbon cables are not master/slave and are jumpered independently.
   
   Determine which drive is the master and make sure it is jumpered correctly. Set the jumpers on the other drive to the slave setting. The SeaFAX server has detailed diagrams of our hard drives. Download the catalog list to obtain the document number for the your drive. If one of your drives was made by another manufacturer, you will need to contact that manufacturer for master/slave jumper settings on that drive. The ATA ribbon cable has a marking along one edge. That marking or coloration marks pin 1. Make sure pin 1 on the ribbon cable is pointing towards pin 1 on both hard drives and also on the ATA controller card connector. Both hard drives will need a DC power connection.
   
   Normally the newer drive will need to be the master. Different BIOSs and ATA controllers can impact this. If you have determined that both ATA drives are jumpered correctly for master/slave and they still do not work, try to bring the new drive up as a stand alone or single drive. If the new drive works fine as a stand alone and fails as a slave, try bringing it up as the master with the original drive as the slave. Jumper changes will be necessary on both drives.
   
   If the drives work in this configuration, there is a decision to be made. You can leave the drives in the working configuration and transfer the necessary data from the original drive (now slave) to the new master drive. If the reverse configuration is preferred, then you will need to purchase a “co-resident ATA controller. A co-resident ATA controller has two special features. The first is its address is set to secondary, allowing it to be installed in the computer with your original ATA controller, which is set to primary. The second is it has a BIOS onboard that allows two additional ATA hard drives to be installed in your system.
   
   For further installation help, contact our Technical Support department, 713-773-9696.

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5. I have a dual port/dual channel ATA card. I installed my new drive on the secondary port and it’s not working. What do I do now?
   
   Occasionally, when two ATA (IDE) drives refuse to work together on the same cable, the solution is to let each of them have its own cable. This means putting one drive on the primary port address and the other on the secondary. The primary port address is always supported by the system BIOS and uses CMOS drive types to define the drive. The secondary port address is less commonly supported in systems prior to the advent of the 586 (Pentium) processors. Since the time of the 386 processor, however, intelligent ATA host adapters that support the secondary channel have been available.
   
   Some dual port/dual channel ATA host adapters require the primary port be full before adding a device to the secondary port, meaning both a primary master and a primary slave must be present before you can add a secondary master. Check your documentation to verify your ATA host adapter does not have this limitation. If it does, and you only have one hard drive on the primary port, add the new drive as the slave. You will need to check the jumpers on both drives to make sure they are correct for the master/slave configuration you have chosen.
   
   If you have an ATA host adapter that allows one drive on the primary and one on the secondary, or you already have two hard drives on the primary port, and the new drive is still failing, first determine if the new drive is in good working order by testing it in the system alone. Try the following:
   
   
   1. Back up your hard drives before following these instructions. We are not responsible for lost data.
      
      
   2. Power off the computer.
      
      Caution: Electro-Static Discharge (ESD) is quite hazardous to certain computer components. If you have anti-static straps and mats, use them. If not, leave the computer plugged in and place both hands on the chassis periodically to safely discharge any static build up.
      
      
   3. Remove the ribbon cable from the drives on the primary port.
      
      
   4. Set the jumpers on the new Seagate drive for stand alone/master.
      
      
   5. Plug it into the ribbon cable from the primary port.
      
      
   6. Power on the computer and go into the system BIOS.
      
      
   7. "Autodetect" the new drive as the C: drive or "User Define" it at 1024 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 spt.
      
      
   8. Save the changes, exit the BIOS, and reboot to a DOS diskette.
      
      
   9. Use FDISK and FORMAT to bring the drive up and verify its operation. (Do not initiate a complete installation of the operating system files. Only a basic boot through COMMAND.COM is needed to verify the status of the drive.) For detailed instructions on this process, refer to "Installing a Single ATA (IDE) Hard Drive".
   
   
   If the drive works as the primary master, contact the dual port/dual channel ATA host adapter manufacturer. If the host adapter does not have an on-board BIOS, a device driver loaded through the CONFIG.SYS is often used to access the drives on the secondary port address. These device drivers, if they exist, are supplied by the host adapter manufacturer.
   
   If the new drive fails to operate as a single drive, it needs to be returned to the place of purchase to be tested for replacement.

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6. How to Overcome the 8.4-Gbyte Barrier?
   
   As PC storage requirements grow, new bottlenecks appear. Once managed, corrected bottlenecks have traditionally unleashed growth for PC storage capacities. The two primary issues, BIOS and operating system limitations, create inhibitors to new capacity points, unless they are anticipated and dealt with.
   
   Resolving the BIOS Issue
   
   Basic input/output system (BIOS) is a set of programs permanently stored in a read-only memory chip (ROM) that provides the most basic control and management of a computer’s hardware. When a computer is switched on, the BIOS conducts a series of complex tests of the installed devices. During run-time, the BIOS provides the operating system and application programs with access to those devices.
   
   BIOS limitations previously occurred at 528-Mbyte and 2.1-Gbyte capacities. The next BIOS frontier is the 8.4-Gbyte barrier. This barrier occurs because of the BIOS’s addressing limitation. Unlike previous BIOS limitations, the solution is more complex, but like previous constraints, upgrading to the latest version BIOS will solve this problem.
   
   The 8.4-Gbyte constraint is based on an obscure method of causing the PC to perform a disc drive operation called an interrupt (INT). When the BIOS wants to get data onto or off of the hard disc, it must send a software interrupt. The key storage interrupt is INT 13h. Older versions of BIOS do not support this interrupt on disc drives larger than 8.4 Gbytes. Like the rest of PC architecture, this interrupt has been enhanced to accommodate the larger capacities required in today’s systems.
   
   There are three solutions for adding INT 13h Extensions to existing systems: upgrade system BIOS, add an intelligent host adapter card with new BIOS on the board, or use Seagate’s DiscWizard software. The new BIOS is a hardware solution that will allow the system to recognize greater than 8.4-Gbyte capacity as a native function, and the DiscWizard software bundle, utilizing Disk Manager, will create a new layer of software that will translate to accommodate greater than 8.4-Gbyte capacity.
   
   Many Motherboard manufacturers provide BIOS upgrades; contact them or visit their web sites for information. Intel offers flash upgrades to many of their current BIOSs. Upgradeable BIOSs include the TX, HX, VX, and LX family of chipsets. These BIOS upgrades can be found on the Intel web site (www.intel.com). (Tip: Pressing the Pause key during POST will sometimes pause the screen long enough to read the system BIOS dates and numbers.)
   
   Resolving the Operating System Issue
   
   Completely separate from the BIOS issue is the Microsoft FAT12-16 file system limitation that forces you to split large drives into multiple 2.1-Gbyte or smaller partitions. Windows 95a can provide large drive support, but it is still limited to the 2.1-Gbyte partition size.
   
   DOS/Win3.x: If you are using DOS/Win3.x (FAT12-16), an additional device driver (such as ONTRACKD.sys) is required to break the 8.4-Gbyte barrier. This driver is available by contacting Seagate Technical Support While this driver will break the 8.4-Gbyte barrier, partitions will still be limited to 2.1 Gbytes.
   
   Windows 95/98: For Windows 95 and 98 the solution is extended file system support provided with FAT32. Because upgrades to Win95 containing FAT32 (OSR2) are currently only available through OEMs, the best current operating system solution to resolving this issue is to upgrade to Windows 98. Taking this into account, Seagate's DiscWizard software is fully compatible with the new FAT32 file systems provided in Windows 98.
   
   Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0: Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0 require a bus mastering driver to support Ultra DMA. Versions of this driver as of 5-June-1998 do not support the full capacity of drives larger than 8.4 Gbytes. Please check with Microsoft or the chipset maker for more information.
   
   Following is some information regarding Microsoft operating systems and Ultra DMA support:
   
   
   • "Computer with Ultra DMA IDE Controller May Hang" Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q171353 http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q171/3/53.asp
   • "Enabling IDE DMA on Windows-based Systems" http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/devdes/idedma.htm For more detailed information please contact www.microsoft.com.
   
   
   System BIOS Parameters for Drives Greater than 8.4 Gbytes
   
   If system BIOS can break the 8.4-Gbyte barrier, how system BIOS uses and reports drive parameters becomes a bit misleading and confusing.
   
   Currently, 16,383 cylinders is the absolute upper limit for system BIOSs and DOS-type operating systems. When combined with the normal 16 heads and 63 sectors per track (16,383 x 16 x 63 x 512 bytes per sector = 8,455,200,768 bytes), this produces a limit of about 8.4 Gbytes for capacity reporting. The normal way of computing drive capacity (Cylinders x Heads x Sectors x 512 bytes/sector) can no longer be used for drives larger than 8.4 Gbytes. For drives larger than 8.4 Gbytes, we must use the total number of addressable sectors on the drive times 512 bytes per sector. For example, the ST39140A label that shows 17,803,440 addressable sectors also shows 16,383C, 16H, 63S. Therefore, 17,803,440 total sectors x 512 bytes per sector = 9,115,361,280 bytes.
   
   The standard C-H-S parameters are displayed on the Seagate drive label and in the Seagate Desk Reference, along with total addressable sectors for these large drives. If "User" is used in system BIOS, even with LBA enabled, and the posted C-H-S parameters are entered, the drive capacity will be limited to 8.4 Gbytes. With system BIOSs that support large drives, you must use "Auto" with LBA enabled to get the full capacity of the drive. (Tip: Some system BIOSs have a separate HDD detect utility that normally uses the standard C-H-S method and will not function correctly with large drives). Using System BIOS "Auto" on those BIOSs that support large drives will use the total addressable sectors on the drive to compute drive capacity. The total capacity of the drive may or may not be displayed correctly in system BIOS. The true capacity as seen by the system BIOS and the operating system can only be displayed using FDISK or CHKDSK.
   
   Although this discussion is primarily for ATA devices, the BIOS on some Adaptec (www.adaptec.com) SCSI Adapters (such as AHA2940U2W-LVD) provides Extended INT 13h support and will successfully break the 8.4-Gbyte barrier for recognized capacity when using an operating system that supports Extended INT 13. UNIX and other non-DOS operating systems do not necessarily suffer from the 8.4-Gbyte limitation.
   
   How Operating Systems Report Drive Capacity
   
   Windows NT: From Windows Explorer, right click on a drive letter, then click on Properties. This shows capacities in bytes, Mbytes, and Gbytes.
   
   Windows 95/98: From Windows Explorer, right click on a drive letter, then click on Properties. This shows bytes, Mbytes, and Gbytes.
   DOS Prompt ?CHKDSK shows bytes
   DOS Prompt ?FDISK shows Mbytes DOS/Windows 3.x
   CHKDSK shows bytes
   FDISK shows Mbytes
   
   Converting from Gbytes to Mbytes to Kbytes to bytes
   1 Kbyte = 1024 bytes (210)
   1 Mbyte = 1,048,576 bytes (220)
   1 Gbyte = 1,073,741,824 bytes (230)
   
   Examples
   8.6 Gbytes = 8.6 x 1,073,741,824 = 9,234,179,686 bytes
   2047 Mbytes = 2047 x 1,048,576 = 2,146,435,072 bytes
   1024 Kbytes = 1024 x 1024 = 1,048,576 bytes

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7. How to Low-Level Format an ATA (IDE) Hard Drive?
   
   What does "low level formatting" mean?
   
   Actually the term "low level" is a bit of a misnomer. The low level process first used years ago in MFM hard drives bears little resemblance to what we now call a "low level format" for today's ATA (IDE) drives. A better name for today's low level formatting utility is intermediate- or mid-level formatting. This is sometimes referred to as the "initialize" or "re-initialize" process. The basic purpose of a mid-level format is to erase everything currently on the drive.
   
   Why would I want to low level format my drive?
   
   The most common reasons to low level format an ATA (IDE) hard drive are:
   • The drive has contracted a virus that cannot be removed without destroying the boot sector.
   • The drive is developing bad sectors at an increasing rate.
   • You are changing from one operating system to another and wish to remove everything from the drive.
   
   
   How do I low level format my drive?
   
   Caution: Low or Mid Level formatting an ATA (IDE) Drive destroys 100% of the data on the drive. Make sure the drive is completely backed up before proceeding.
   
   Caution: The Low Level Format options of Disk Manager are the only safe methods for use with Seagate and Conner hard drives. Some system BIOSs may include a Low Level Format option; use these at your own risk, as this may produce undesirable results.
   
   For Seagate hard drives, Disk Manager can be downloaded as a part of the DiscWizard package. It includes two low-level format options, partitioning options, and high-level formatting options. Zero Fill writes zeros in each data sector up to the complete capacity of the drive and will clean up some file system defects. The Low Level option performs a track by track initialization for the entire capacity of the drive, but does not spare bad sectors.
   
   The download routine for Disk Manager creates a bootable diskette. Boot from the diskette to start Disk Manager. After startup, Select Advanced Options | Maintenance | Options | Utilities. Select the drive you want to erase, then select Zero Fill or Low Level.
   
   Note: The Zero Fill option runs more quickly and removes data just as thoroughly as the Low Level option.
   
   Note: Older versions of Disk Manager do not include the Advanced Options menu, but the Maintenance Options can be reached by pressing Alt+T at the Main Menu.
   
   When the process completes, reboot the system from a DOS diskette. Run FDISK to partition the drive, then format the drive and begin installing the new Operating System.

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