[TwoRails]

Originally posted by glc It bears repeating that a true low level format WILL destroy an IDE drive, but it's safe on SCSI and MFM, and I believe ESDI. If you want to wipe an IDE drive, you use a zero fill, if you want to remove evidence even better you use some kind of secure wipe multiple times.

Here's a cut-n-paste from Maxtor's site:

You cannot perform a true "factory" low-level format on your Maxtor and Quantum® ATA hard drive. The servo, sector layout, and defect management information contained in the low-level format is designed to last the life of the drive. This information and the way it is written cannot be duplicated in any way outside of the factory. However, you can use utilities such as PowerMax (version 3.3 or newer) or MaxBlast 3 to purge the drive of a corrupted master boot record, a boot block virus, or to clear the drive of any recoverable bad sectors or bad clusters. To perform a non-factory low-level format using PowerMax please select the Write Disk Pack option. To perform a non-factory low-level format using MaxBlast 3 please select the Zero-Fill Drive option located under "Utilities". Note: High capacity drives take longer to complete. Allow sufficient time to complete the test. Several hours to overnight may be needed. A full Low Level Format remains the most effective test for a drive with intermittent problems.

HTH

TwoRails