Date   : Mon, 27 Nov 2006 03:57:06 -0600
From   : julesrichardsonuk@... (Jules Richardson)
Subject: Formatting a scsi harddisk for ADFS

Mike wrote:
>> I know it should be possible to add the right commands to a program
>> like SuperForm so it will set the right Mode Page before issueing a
>> Format Unit command. Sadly I am not able to write anything like that.
> 
> Seagate have a PC utility called 'Seatools enterprise'  in the advanced
> section you'll find an option to change the block length to whatever you
> want. For ADFS you need 256 bytes. Easiest way is to hook the drive to a PC
> with a suitable HBA, you may need to install ASPII from adaptec if windows
> doesn't. You can theh use Seatools to do the job.

Or on the Linux side, you can use the sgutils to do it. I don't recall if 
there's an 'sgraw'-type binary which can send an arbitrary sequence of bytes 
to a device, but I suspect that there is (I think 'sg_wr_mode' may be the thing).

Failing that, it'd be about ten lines of C code to do the job (which I realise 
isn't for everyone :-)  But still, there are ways and means.

Old Mac LC systems are a good source of low-capacity (40 - 120MB or so) SCSI 
drives, incidentally - they still seem pretty common. Whether they'll format 
to a 256 byte block size is another matter, though.

cheers

Jules


-- 
And if eight out of ten cats all prefer whiskas
Do the other two prefer Leslie Judd?