Originally posted by jim mcnamara
Well.

I disagree based on experience - not direct knowledge of formatting. I had to low-level format 20 hard disks because the hardware guy was gone. Talk about boring. At any rate - the serial #'s did not change because we kept inventory based on serial #. I had to enter info about each one - before & after the format & rebuild.

It really doesn't matter. Just my experience. YMMV.
We've also found that on some taiwanese OEM hardware the HDD numbers were the same