> ST506 and ESDI drives require low-level formatting. SCSI drives _sometimes_
> need low-leveling, and IDE drives should _NEVER_ be low level formatted.

Actually, I forget which critical bit of information IDE drives stored on
the first couple of tracks, but they finally figured out the trick of not
actually formatting *THOSE* tracks during a FORMAT operation.  (Duh.  The
SCSI side of the house has been doing that for YEARS, really has to make
you wonder who they have working on IDE firmware.)  Recent IDE drives can
be safely low-level formatted (check your drive vendor to be sure), and
presumably gain the same benefit from it that a SCSI drive will.