resolution Re: [rescue] help reformatting a disk needed

[Arthur Wouk]

i wrote:

> i have an ibm DCAS04F 4.5gig hard drive, 50pin, scsi, ...which was
> formatted with block size 520. i need to reformat it to 512 size
> blocks. 


scott newell suggested:

:Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 12:32:26 -0600
:From: Scott Newell <newell at cei.net>
:Subject: Re: [rescue] help reformatting a disk needed
:
:>how do i reformat this drive to 512 size blocks?
:
:I'd consider using sformat:
:
:ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/sformat
:
:It was a chore to build under OpenBSD...as I recall, I ended up building
:smake first, then sformat.
:
:
:newell
:

no problem under solaris.

well this was the key, but the solution was more complex.

i first tried to do build sformat on sparc2 running solaris2.7 and
with lots of disk space.  sformat-3.3 would not compile.  (i tried
early versions for reasons which come out below.) sformat -3.5 did
compile, but i could not get it to recognize the drive even though
probe-scsi saw the drive. 

so i retreated to my fall back position. i have another sparc2 running
solaris2.5.1 which has seen drives which the first didn't and which
sparc10s running solaris 2.6 and 2.8 failed to see. (in fact i used it
to format another 'invisible' ibm drive earlier.) this other sparc2
has very little disk space and in order to compile sformat on it i had
to bring in an older gcc - 2.8.1 which was the most recent one which
would fit the space left in /usr. sformat compiled, saw the DCAS
drive, and, mirabile dictu, it proceeded to do what it was supposed to
do. (i did retry format itself before this - failed as usual.)  in a
two pass try with lots of input from me we got to a reasonable
reformatted and labeled version of the drive, with 4.45gigs of space
avasilable for use, pretty much what you would expect.


afterwards, as a check, i tried format to look at the drives, and this
time it saw both the DCAS and the boot drive just fine.

the moral of the story is - hold on to old solaris, 2.4 or 2.5.1. they
are stable, and do things which the more recent versions won't permit.
why i don't know. just keep a copy around for good luck and tight
spots. also, sformat is a lot better than format for dealing with
scsi drive problems.