At 05:56 AM 04/03/2000 , Paul Traynor wrote:
>Hi,
>
>Could someone answer the following questions please.
>
>1.  what is the purpose of a low level format?
>
>2.  In what situations is such a technique required?.
>
>3.  If special software is needed are there any freeware or shareware
>utilities to be found on the net?.

First, we do not "low-level-format" IDE or ATA
hard drives.  This term is a misnomer from the old MFM days when
a drive could have the tracks and sectors defined using a low level
format.

The IDE or ATA drives we use today have all this information preset at
the factory and a real low level format would destroy the drive or at
least slow it down radically...   you cannot redefine the tracks
and sectors on these drives with a true low level format.  Of course
this is highly simplified for this discussion, but let us suffice to say that
you cannot change the logical geometry of current IDE/ATA drives without
destroying it...   since we have two different issues: physical geometry vs.
logical geometry...   and they a quite different.

Fdisk only writes to the Master Boot Record on the hard drive to create
logical areas of the drive to divide the drive, even if it is only to set it as
one large area.  These areas are defined as partitions.  So, FDISK does
not perform a low level format, but only writes to one small area, the
Master Boot Record or MBR, located in the boot sector of the drive.

What is usually called a low level format is a utility that writes or refreshes
the drive by over writing the drive to clear out all information.  This is
actually a mid-level format or maybe more accurate a re-initializing of the
drive.  The only recommended, factory recommended manner to do this
is with utility programs supplied by each manufacturer.  You can download
these software programs from the manufacturer's web site to clean out the
drive and prepare it for a fresh partition.  Using these utilities will overwrite
the entire drive and all data will be gone, including the MBR, (Master Boot
Record).

Once the drive has been re-initialized you will be required to build a new MBR
using a partitioning program, such as Microsoft's FDISK.

SO...  Why would you re-initialize a drive?
1) To remove a virus located in the boot sector
2)  The hard drive has developed a large number of bad sectors
       and they are increasing
3)  You wish to change from one operating system to another

Once this has been finished, you will need to repartition the drive, this is when
FDISK can be used.   Finally, you use format or a high level format utility to prepare
the drive to receive data in the manner the operating system requires.


     Bob Wright
The NOSPIN Group

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