Hello guys haw do i go about doing a low level format and after i have done that will i beable to use my back up dvd i did useing ghost to put windows xp back on with all the drivers and updates and stuff :confused:
thanks guys
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Hello guys haw do i go about doing a low level format and after i have done that will i beable to use my back up dvd i did useing ghost to put windows xp back on with all the drivers and updates and stuff :confused:
thanks guys
why d'you want to low level format mate?? its not the sort of thing thats required often (if at all) tbh
depending on why you what to do this, you may find there are utilities that will do what you're after, but its difficult to advise without knowing why you feel a low level format is required
If you low level format a drive you loose EVERYTHING inlcuding the partition information. If you want to low leel, backup everything on the whole hard drive even if data is on a seprate partition.
Next download a boot disk from your hard disk manufacturer with utilities on it which will enable you to low level format your hard drive.
Basically what it does, it resets all the drive to 0's.
You can only do a true low level format at the factory, users cant.
Many utilies claim to beable to, but they cant.
Just format your drive, then use ghost.
I think ghost will ghost the partition onto the new drive though without neededing to make new partitions :)
Are you sure Agent?
I thought thats what the manufracturer specific utilties were for? (though not all allow it).
NS
i wont to try to get all the crap of my hard drive for good like old drives and stuff
if you are wanting to delete data than a 3-5wipe program such as cyberscrub is best to stop software and hardware data recovery.
if its to fix bad sectors one of the only programs to properly do this in DOS is HD regenerator
Yup. They call it a low level format, because its the nearest thing to it. But a true, 100% low level format can only be done at manufacture (and the only reason i know this is someone from Maxtor told me :))Quote:
Originally posted by NightShade737
Are you sure Agent?
I thought thats what the manufracturer specific utilties were for? (though not all allow it).
NS
Just to back me up : http://www.disk-utility.com/hard-dis...el-format.html
Quote:
Important drive information (servo, sector layout, and defect management, etc.) is stored in the low-level format at the factory. This information is designed to last the life of the drive and therefore it is not possible to low level the drive outside the factory. Although some drive manufactures and BIOS provided so-called "low level format utilities", they actually perform a write-read verify of the drive’s user data sectors, and do not actually perform a low-level format
That would explain why some of the manufactuers write "Low Level Format (Write 0's)" instead.
Alright, cheers for that.
NS
The only time a zero writer is useful is if something is seriously stuffed with the partition table and mbr. I had this problem on a Seagate, and used their zeroing tool on it.
Otherwise, a normal format is fine.
fdisk it, format it & if your really want to be sure then use a utilitiy that'll write 0's to free space, like bcwipeQuote:
Originally posted by Planetside
i wont to try to get all the crap of my hard drive for good like old drives and stuff
as agent says, true low level formatting is only capable by the manufacturer of a drive