[weblacky]

Same here. In addition to the post weblacky linked, I've also been bitten at least twice over the years trying to do a fresh installation on a disk that was developing media errors. Once you've wasted an evening chasing mysterious hangs in a newly installed system, you will make sure the hardware is sane *before* you get started. I also have a habit of running diagnostics tests every time an unknown system lands in my lap or I piece something together from parts.

So for me this is not just about erasing information, it's about establishing trust in the hardware before I invest my time.

NB: there are different methods of exercising a  disk. I imagine that a butterfly test (random I/O) stresses the hardware, but seriously, a disk that doesn't survive a sequential wipe should be binned.

I'm reusing a lot of my disks, but you bring up a great point, trust.  Doing the exercise (successfully) does give you confidence the disk is good and you're fine to load an OS on it.  Good point, that hadn't really occurred to me (in my situation).  If you are encountering this disk drive for a first time...you need to do some kind of realistic test on it.

Granted, old SCSI disks don't use SMART, so writing doesn't cause reallocation for bad sectors, but it's something.  I think for me, for first encounter with an unknown SCSI hard drive, I'd do a low-level format to update the defect list (but you can use a PC SCSI card util for that).  After that, I'm more of a wipe the drive guy so I know it's blank due to oddities I've seen in irix installations.