How to low-level format a hard drive or flash drive. Low-level formatting of a hard drive - which program is better? Need low-level formatting of the hard drive

Greetings!
In certain situations, it becomes necessary to perform low-level formatting of the HDD (hard drive), for example, by formatting it at a low level, the data on it will be permanently deleted (without the possibility of recovery, including with special utilities). This can be useful in a situation where you want to sell a computer, but at the same time you do not want there to be even a theoretical possibility of recovering the data that was once on the hard drive.

You can also try to “cure” bad sectors on your hard drive using low-level formatting.

During the low-level formatting process, bad sectors (so-called bad blocks) are marked as unusable. However, it is worth remembering that this procedure is not a panacea for the appearance of new bad blocks while using the hard drive.

In general, it is worth taking as a rule - if the disk begins to “fail” and unreadable blocks (bad blocks) begin to appear on it, then there is a risk of eventually losing all the data on it at once.
If the disc is under warranty, return it immediately - this is a warranty case. If the warranty has passed, then after the “treatment”, store only non-essential data on it, for example, movies and music.

If we talk about Flash disks (flash drives), then the low-level formatting procedure in some cases can revive a “failed” storage medium.

This formatting method is not recommended for SSD drives. To work with this type of media, fundamentally different solutions are used.

HDD Low Level Format Tool

Despite the fact that there are a sufficient number of programs of this kind, including some official applications from HDD and Flash drive manufacturers, I still recommend using one of the best universal utilities of this kind -.

This utility is distinguished from similar ones by the ease of management and the ease with which it performs low-level formatting of hard drives, flash cards and drives. Thanks to its simple and intuitive interface, even a novice user can master this utility.

The utility is paid, but in free mode the program works in full-featured mode with only one exception: the maximum low-level formatting speed is 50 MB/s.

For example, in the free mode of operation of the HDD Low Level Format Tool utility, low-level formatting of a 640 GB HDD disk lasted about 2 hours. Sometimes, however, the speed dropped significantly below the stated 50 MB/s.

Main features:

• Supports work with media connected via: IDE, SATA, USB, SCSI, Firewire;
• HDD drives supported: Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, Maxtor, Samsung, etc.
• Low-level formatting of USB and Flash cards is supported (via a card reader).

Low-level formatting will permanently destroy all data on the disk! The program supports working with disks that are connected via USB and Firewire interfaces. In other words, you can perform low-level formatting and try to bring even classic USB flash drives back to life.

Low-level formatting will remove the MBR and partition table from the disk. An attempt to recover data from a disk formatted in this way is unlikely to be successful, even if you contact a service that specializes in data recovery. In this regard, be extremely careful and cautious when working with this software.

When is low-level formatting used?

Most often, low-level formatting is resorted to for the following reasons:

• As mentioned above, one of the most common reasons is getting rid of errors and “curing” the hard drive. During low-level formatting, bad (unreadable) blocks are marked as bad and excluded from subsequent use. This to some extent increases the reliability of a SATA or IDE hard drive and increases its service life.
• There was a need to reliably destroy (without the possibility of recovery) the existing data on a hard drive, for example, for selling it separately or as part of an entire computer. However, for this task it is better and more correct to use the appropriate solution - for , for .
• Sometimes this method is used to completely destroy various types of viruses and malicious elements (that write themselves into the boot area, etc.), which are difficult to get rid of in any other way.
• In some cases, the need for low-level formatting arises when migrating from the Linux operating system to Microsoft Windows.
• In some cases, this procedure helps to “revive” a failed flash drive. For example, when it is impossible to write anything to it and formatting it using standard means in Windows also fails.
• When connecting a new drive, although in this situation regular formatting is often sufficient.

Low-level formatting of Flash disk (flash drive)\HDD

Important details:

1) The hard drive (HDD) is formatted exactly according to the same principle as the flash drive demonstrated in the example.

And yes, the flash drive is the most common one, made in China. Reason for low-level formatting: when connected, it stopped being displayed in the system. However, the HDD Low Level Format Tool detected it, and it was decided to try to “cure” it.

2) Low-level formatting is possible both under Windows and DOS, but with some reservations. A fairly common mistake, especially among novice users, is trying to format the disk from which the operating system was loaded. In other words, if you have one single hard drive installed on your computer and, for example, the Windows operating system is installed on it, then to directly format this disk you need to boot from another medium, for example, a Live-CD. Or you can connect your HDD to another computer (or laptop) and perform low-level formatting from there.

We're done with the nuances, now let's look at the process of low-level formatting using the HDD Low Level Format Tool.

There are two versions of this utility - the first requires installation, and the second is portable (works without installation). Choose the option that is best for you.

1) After launching the program, a welcome window will appear asking you to register it. The free option differs from the paid one only in that low-level formatting does not occur at full speed. Agree that you don’t have to resort to this formatting procedure very often, and therefore the free option is often sufficient. To continue working with the program, click on the button Continue for free, which loosely translated means continue for free.

2) Next, you will see a window in which all connected drives found by the program will be listed. Keep in mind that drives are designated in a special way here: in place of the usual C:\.. D:\, etc. the window displays the physical disks themselves. And, accordingly, you need to navigate here by the name and capacity of the drive.

To continue, select the desired drive and press the button Continue >>>(continue).

3) As a result, a window should appear with three tabs. In the Device details tab, you can highlight information about the drive you have selected, and in the S.M.A.R.T. tab. Find out the health parameters of the drive. The low-level formatting procedure is launched in the tab LOW-LEVEL FORMAT.

Having opened this tab, click on the button located there FORMAT THIS DEVICE(format this device).

Note: when you check the box next to the Perform quick wipe... item, the usual formatting will be carried out in place of the low-level formatting.

4) A warning will then appear, the essence of which is that all data on the media will be permanently deleted during the formatting process. Just in case, check again to see if there is any important data left on the drive. If there are none, then click the corresponding button to start the procedure.

5) The low-level formatting process will begin. During this period, you cannot disconnect or remove the flash drive/disk, try to open the media in a file manager, and especially try to write something to it at the time of formatting. It is best not to launch any resource-intensive programs or applications during this period and not to use the computer at all until formatting is complete.

When the progress bar reaches 100%, formatting is complete. You can close the program.

An important nuance: the time it takes to format the drive depends on several factors: the operating mode of the utility (paid or free), as well as on the condition of the disk itself. If there are a lot of errors (unreadable sectors) on it, then the process will take some time and you will have to wait...

After low-level formatting, all information on the disk will be deleted, tracks and sectors will be marked, and some service and technical information will be recorded. Naturally, you won’t be able to access this disk yet, and you won’t see it with most programs either. This disk requires a high-level formatting procedure, during which a file table is created, etc.

In order to carry out high-level formatting, you can use the standard option offered by the Windows operating system. Formatting the hard drive is carried out in the system tool window, because... from the file manager the disk disappears after low-level formatting. If we are talking about a flash drive, then just go to My computer(This computer) and right-click on the required disk there (if, of course, it is visible), and in the context menu that appears, select the item Format… In particular, the flash drive used in the review began to appear in the system after the “treatment”.

In the window that appears, you will need to select a file system: for HDDs (hard drives) this is exclusively NTFS, and for flash drives it is quite possible to choose FAT(provided that you do not try to write a file larger than 4 GB to it).
You can optionally enter a volume label. Then click on the button Begin.

Once this procedure is completed, you can use your storage medium again. However, never forget to back up your data, especially from media that has caused you to doubt its reliability.

Brief summary

In this article, we examined the low-level formatting procedure in detail, and the reasons for carrying out this operation were announced.
After reading it, you now know how to low-level format a hard drive or flash drive (including those connected via a card reader).

If you have any questions, you can ask them in the comments.

They can perform regular or low-level formatting of a hard drive, as well as other external media. To do this, you just need to right-click on the desired object and select the “Format” menu item in the contextual branch.

But what exactly this utility does and what it is capable of in general remains a mystery to many. After checking, if a bad sector was detected on the media, the program will not give you any notification, and it is quite possible that this problematic cluster will continue to be used by the system.

In order to solve this problem, you have to resort to third-party programs for low-level formatting of hard drives and USB devices. Well, with the help of basic applications of the Windows operating system, it is unfortunately impossible to unravel the secret of sectors.

So, we present to your attention the best programs for low-level hard drive formatting that can be found on the Internet. All of them have basically a free or shareware license and are freely distributed through official or specialized resources.

It’s worth noting right away: before performing low-level formatting of your hard drive, be sure to copy all important information to third-party media. Otherwise, you risk losing this data.

JetFlash Recovery Tool

This program for low-level formatting of hard drives will be an excellent help not only for working with a hard drive, but also with branded flash drives of this company, as well as ADATA brand devices.

The utility allows you to format media efficiently or recover data from it. The application will be especially useful if you have unreadable sectors, recording is completely disabled, or the disk is not recognized by the system.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the most simplified interface. Here you won’t see confusing menu branches or unclear icons, everything is very simple. There are two buttons: one to start the data recovery procedure, and the other to “Exit”.

The fly in the ointment here is the fastidiousness of the software. That is, on the one hand, this is an excellent program for low-level formatting of hard drives, but on the other hand, we see only a narrow list of supported equipment. The lack of localization is difficult to write down as a minus, because even without the Russian language everything is extremely clear.

HP Drive Key Boot Utility

Another smart program for low-level formatting hard drives and working with damaged sectors. In addition, the utility perfectly “digests” the brands of flash drives “Kingston”, “SanDisk” and “Transcend”.

The application works smoothly in file systems such as FAT32, NTFS and regular FAT. That is, any storage capacity will be within the capabilities of this program. One of the main advantages of the application is its intuitive interface. All the main functionality of the program is concentrated in one single window, and you can perform all operations without leaving it. By clicking just a couple of buttons, in a few minutes you will see the message: “Low-level disk formatting is complete.”

Distinctive features of the program

It would also be useful to note the fact that this software can create bootable disks using built-in tools based on a copy of your operating system. The application itself comes in a portable version, so there will be no problems with migration to other media and PCs.

The disadvantages of the utility include mediocre support for the currently popular SSD format, but in all other respects it is an excellent program for working with drives.

HDD Low Level Format Tool

This is a highly specialized utility, designed specifically for working with media in such a “deep” way. HDD Low Level Format Tool is an excellent program for low-level formatting Seagate, WD hard drives and almost any flash drive.

Before starting the procedure, you must select the desired media and then designate a work plan. That is, here you can perform a quick cleanup of the hard drive or complete low-level formatting of the hard drive.

One of the distinctive features of the program is its support for all types of hard drives, both regular HDDs and high-speed SSDs, and from any interface (IDE, SATA, SCSI, etc.). The software also copes well with small flash devices like mini- or micro-SD. Thanks to its universal code, the utility works on all known operating systems, including Windows.

The only fly in the ointment is the low data processing speed. That is, for example, this low-level formatting program for a WD hard drive will be able to process this brand of hard drive at a speed of no more than 50 Mbit/sec. The time it takes to complete the operation will be significant, but it is more than compensated for by competent processing of sectors and tracks.

MiniTool Partition Home Edition

This is for the most part a whole complex, distinguished by expanded functionality and appropriate usability. As for specific possibilities, here they are almost limitless for hard drives.

In addition to basic markup operations, error checking, partition conversion and other things, there is a unique functionality unique to this software. We are talking about transferring an operating system from one medium to another, selectively or completely copying information to another hard drive; in addition, judging by the reviews, this is a smart wizard for recovering lost data.

Also, the software can easily work not only with single hard drives, but also with large RAID arrays. Separately, it is worth mentioning the speed of the application, where MiniTool Partition Wizard Free compares favorably with its counterparts.

Software features

All operations can be performed using either the usual visual panel or the graphical menu. The developer, alas, did not provide official localization into Russian, but on the Internet you can find quite competent localizations that are in no way inferior in quality to stock ones.

As for compatibility and any updates, the developer carefully monitors his product, so the application can be called completely universal, and users did not notice any failures or glitches with it.

Overall, this is a worthy product that should be in the arsenal of any system administrator or advanced user. Some may be upset by the paid distribution license, but for isolated cases there is a conditional free period, where for a 30-day period you can use all the features of the program, which should be enough to troubleshoot problems with the drive.

Disk Storage Format Tool

This is a fairly powerful and full-featured utility for working with hard drives and flash drives of all brands and types. In addition, the program is distributed completely free of charge. There is also an advanced paid version, but it differs from the basic version more in its exterior than in any critical additions in functionality.

The software feels great on the Windows platform of all versions - from XP to ten, and no compatibility problems were noticed.

The utility is very easy to use, and the interface is intuitive even for a novice user. To get started, you need to specify the drive you want to work with, then go to the action menu, where you need to select what exactly you want to do for the drive, that is, format or fix errors.

Features of the utility

The program competently approaches the detection of bad or unreadable sectors and their subsequent correction. A separate button works with USB flash drives, where error correction or low-level formatting of the media is also available.

Another advantage for which advanced users love this utility is the maintenance of detailed logs. All operations with a hard drive or flash drive will be reflected in a well-written report, where every step taken by the program is visible.

It is also worth mentioning the trouble-free operation with other, more finicky media: mini- and micro-SD cards, SDXC and HC formats, as well as the rare Compact Flash. The disadvantages include the lack of functionality for creating bootable disks and clumsy localization. But taking into account the existing functionality of the software and the free license, all these shortcomings are practically leveled out.

Often, if any malfunctions occur in the hard drive, you can lose all the information on it. The optimal solution for saving important data may be low-level disk formatting.

Low-level formatting is carried out by the manufacturer during the manufacture of the hard drive. The procedure described in this article can rather be called “pseudo” formatting, since it is simply not possible to perform a real low-level procedure at home.

By completing this process, it is possible to correct software errors and remove virus software from your PC. Formatting will also be useful when selling a PC, so that the future owner will not be able to use the information stored on the computer.

How to do low level formatting

There is a list of programs that can perform low-level formatting. Some of them are suitable only for a specific brand of hard drive, while others are universal and make it possible to work with equipment from any manufacturer. This article will look at programs that are completely free and will easily cope with the necessary procedure.

Method 1: HDDLLFT

This application is suitable for any hard drive; the only condition for the program to work correctly is the presence of Windows OS installed.

Method 2: SeaTools DOS

The main difference between this utility and its analogues is the ability to create its image on any third-party storage device. This is an important detail that will be very useful for users whose system functionality is working with errors.

Method 3: Windows Data Lifeguard Diagnostics

Thanks to this application, you can perform low-level formatting of WD hard drives.

As you can see, the low-level formatting procedure is quite simple. Almost all known programs work on a similar principle, and mastering them will not pose any problems. The main thing to remember is that universal programs will not necessarily be worse than the utilities offered by a specific manufacturer.

Good day!

In some cases, it is necessary to perform low-level formatting of a hard drive (for example, to “heal” bad sectors of the HDD, or to completely delete all information from the drive, for example, you are selling a computer and do not want anyone to dig into your data).

Sometimes, such a procedure works “miracles” and helps bring a disk (or, for example, a flash drive, etc.) back to life. In this article I want to look at some issues that every user who has had to deal with a similar issue faces. So…

1) What utility is needed for low-level HDD formatting?

Despite the fact that there are quite a lot of utilities of this kind, including specialized utilities from the disk manufacturer, I recommend using one of the best of its kind - .

HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool

Main program window

This program easily and simply performs low-level formatting of HDD drives and Flash cards. What’s captivating is that even completely novice users can use it. The program is paid, but there is also a free version with limited functionality: maximum operating speed is 50 MB/s.

Note: For example, for one of my “test” hard drives of 500 GB, it took about 2 hours to carry out low-level formatting (this is in the free version of the program). Moreover, the speed sometimes dropped significantly less than 50 MB/s.

Main features:

• supports work with SATA, IDE, SCSI, USB, Firewire interfaces;
• Supports drives from: Hitachi, Seagate, Maxtor, Samsung, Western Digital, etc.
• supports formatting Flash cards when using a card reader.

When formatting, the data on the drive will be completely destroyed! The utility supports working with drives connected via USB and Firewire (i.e., you can format and bring back to life even ordinary USB flash drives).

Low-level formatting will delete the MBR and partition table (no program will help you recover data, be careful!).

2) When to perform low-level formatting, what will help

Most often, such formatting is carried out for the following reasons:

1. The most common reason is to get rid of and treat the disk from bad blocks (bad and unreadable), which significantly impair the performance of the hard drive. Low-level formatting allows you to “instruct” the hard drive so that it can discard bad sectors (bad blocks), replacing their work with backup ones. This significantly improves the performance of the disk (SATA, IDE) and increases the life of such a device.
2. When they want to get rid of viruses, malware that cannot be removed by other methods (such, unfortunately, do occur);
3. When they sell a computer (laptop) and don’t want the new owner to rummage through their data;
4. In some cases, this needs to be done when you “transfer” from a Linux system to Windows;
5. When a flash drive (for example) is not visible in any other program, and it is impossible to write files to it (and indeed, format it using Windows);
6. When a new drive is connected, etc.

3) An example of low-level formatting of a flash drive under Windows

A few important notes:

1. The hard drive is formatted in the same way as the flash drive shown in the example.
2. By the way, the flash drive is the most common one, made in China. Reason for formatting: it is no longer recognized and displayed on my computer. However, the HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool saw it and decided to try to save it.
3. Low-level formatting can be done both under Windows and Dos. Many novice users make one mistake, its essence is simple: you cannot format the disk from which you booted! Those. if you have one hard drive and Windows is installed on it (like most) - then to start formatting this disk, you need to boot from another medium, for example from (or a computer and format from it).

Now let's move on to the process itself. I will assume that you have already downloaded and installed the HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool utility.

1. When you launch the utility, you will see a window with a welcome message and the price of the program. The free version is distinguished by its speed, so if you do not have a very large disk and there are not very many of them, then the free version is quite enough for the work - just click the “Continue for free” button.

First launch of HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool

2. Next you will see in the list all the drives connected and found by the utility. Please note that there will no longer be the usual “C:\” drives, etc. Here you need to focus on the device model and drive size.

For further formatting, select the desired device from the list and click the “Continue” button (as in the screenshot below).

Selecting a drive

3. Next, a window with information about the drives should appear in front of you. Here you can find out the S.M.A.R.T. readings, find out more detailed information about the device (Device details), and perform formatting - LOW-LEVE FORMAT tab. That's what we choose.

To start formatting, click the Format This Device button.

Note. If you check the box next to Perform quick wipe, “normal” formatting will be performed instead of low-level formatting.

Low-Level Format (format the device).

4. Then a standard warning will appear stating that all data will be deleted, check the drive again, perhaps the necessary data remains on it. If all backup copies of documents from it have been made, you can safely proceed...

5. The formatting process itself should begin. At this time, you cannot remove the flash drive (or disconnect the disk), write to it (or rather, try to write), and generally do not run any resource-intensive applications on the computer; it is better to leave it alone until the operation is completed. When it is completed, the green bar will reach the end and turn yellow. After this, you can close the utility.

By the way, the operation time depends on your version of the utility (paid / free), as well as on the condition of the drive itself. If there are a lot of errors on the disk, sectors are not readable, then the formatting speed will be low and you will have to wait quite a long time...

Formatting process...

Formatting complete

By the way, the easiest way to do high-level formatting is to simply go to “my computer” and right-click on the desired disk (if it is visible, of course). In particular, my flash drive became visible after the “operation” was performed...

Next, all that remains is to select the file system ( for example NTFS, since it supports files larger than 4 GB), write the disk name ( volume label: Flash drive, see screenshot below) and start formatting.

After the operation has been completed, you can start using the drive as usual, so to speak, “from scratch”...

That's all for me, Good Luck :)

All new hard drives are already low-level formatted by the manufacturer and do not require reinitialization. In practice, under normal circumstances, you are unlikely to need to perform low-level formatting on your hard drive, since technically only the manufacturer can perform this kind of real formatting.

What computers call low-level formatting is actually more of an initialization and testing of the disk surface, as the process writes and reads to all sectors of the disk. If there are no problems with the disk, there is no need for a full initialization or surface check.

What is low level formatting?

First, let's understand the concepts of low- and high-level formatting.

Low level format- an operation during which servo marks (information that is used to position the hard drive heads) are applied to the magnetic surface of the disk. It is performed during the manufacturing process of the hard drive, using special equipment.

When the process of low-level formatting a hard drive is started for the first time, the hard drive platters are empty, that is, they contain absolutely no information about sectors, tracks, and so on. This is the last moment when the hard drive has completely empty platters. Information recorded during this process will never be rewritten again.

Old hard drives had the same number of sectors per track and did not have built-in controllers, so the low-level formatting was handled by the external hard drive controller, and the only information it needed was the number of tracks and the number of sectors per track. Using this information, the external controller could format the hard drive. Modern hard drives have a complex internal structure, including changing the number of sectors per track when moving from external to internal tracks, as well as built-in servo information to control the head drive.

Due to this complex data structure, all modern hard drives are low-level formatted only once - at the factory.

There are two types of high-level formatting:

Formatting in normal mode – a process that consists of creating a master boot record with a table of partitions and (or) empty file system structures, setting the boot sector, and similar actions. The formatting process also checks the integrity of the media to block bad sectors.

Quick format - the same process as formatting in normal mode, only without checking the media for bad sectors.

The use of the term low-level formatting in relation to hard drives has given rise to many myths. For example, there is an opinion that it is impossible to perform low-level formatting of a hard drive and that attempting such an operation will lead to the destruction of the disk. In principle, there is some truth in this misconception. It consists in the fact that when low-level formatting old disks from the late 1980s, the optimal settings for the bevel of heads and cylinders established by the disk manufacturer, as well as the map of disk defects, were violated.

All this had a negative impact on the performance of the devices. The problem described has long been resolved, and all devices using zone recording (with a variable number of sectors per track) are immune to any problems that low-level formatting may cause, since real markers cannot be replaced by a sector.

So low-level formatting of discs made in the 1990s and later will prevent it from disturbing its settings.

At the same time, there is often a real need to perform low-level formatting of ATA and SCSI drives. Now we will talk about programs that will help you do this.

Programs for low-level formatting of ATA disks (SATA, PATA, etc.)

ATA drive manufacturers defined and standardized extensions to the original WD1002/1003 hard drive controller, creating the AT bus interface (known as the ATA interface). The ATA specification is implemented for unique vendor-specific commands that are an extension of the standard. To avoid performing incorrect low-level formatting, many ATA devices have special commands that must be sent to the device to enable formatting procedures. These commands vary by device manufacturer, so you'll need to look for low-level formatting and defect management programs created by the drive manufacturer.

These programs are most often intended not only for devices from a specific manufacturer, but also for their individual models. So before performing a search, make a note of the manufacturer name and model number of your hard drive.

Modern hard drives are protected from the possibility of changes in the skew factor or defect map, since they are always in conversion mode. Devices with zone recording are always in this mode and are thus fully protected.

Most hard drives have an additional set of commands that are used during the formatting process, and the standard ATA specification commands do not work (especially for ATA devices with zone recording).

Spare sectors can also be allocated automatically using programs provided by the device manufacturer. Without knowing the correct manufacturer-specific commands, it is impossible to replace defective sectors with spare ones, specially allocated in modern devices for these purposes. A detected defective sector is replaced in the distribution structure by the closest spare sector.

Some hard drive manufacturers offer low-level formatting programs. They can be found at the following addresses.

• Seagate
  ftp://ftp.seagate.com/techsuppt/seagate_utils/sgatfmt4.zip
  http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools
• Hitachi/IBM
  www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm
• Maxtor/Quantum
  http://www.maxtor.com/softwaredownload/default.htm
• Samsung
  www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/hutil.htm
  www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/sutil.htm
  www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/shdiag.htm
• Western Digital
  http://support.wdc.com/download/

First of all, you should try the programs provided by the device manufacturer. All of them are free and often allow you to work at a low level in a way that large-scale programs do not allow.

If the drive manufacturer does not offer an initialization/verification/formatting program, you can use the Drive Fitness Test program from Hitachi (formerly IBM). This program works great with drives from other manufacturers and performs detailed, full testing of the entire hard drive. This is one of the best general purpose programs because it allows you to perform a non-destructive test. Although it can test any device, there is one limitation: destructive read/write tests can only be performed on Hitachi and IBM drives.

Advice!

All of the listed programs for initializing, testing and formatting a hard drive, as well as many others, can be found in the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) collection of utilities. This is a fantastic collection of diagnostic tools contained in one downloadable CD! A copy of this CD can be downloaded from www.ultimatebootcd.com.

Non-destructive formatting tools

I strongly advise against using BIOS-level non-destructive formatting tools such as Calibrate (formerly included with Symantec Norton Utilities) when low-level formatting is truly needed. Such funds are characterized by a number of limitations and problems that reduce their effectiveness. They perform low-level formatting on individual tracks using BIOS functions; This backs up and restores individual tracks.

These programs also do not create a defect map, as low-level formatting programs typically do. Moreover, they can remove defect map markers added by standard low-level formatting programs. As a result, it becomes possible for data to be stored in bad sectors, which in some cases may void the warranty.

Another limitation is that these programs can only be used when working with hard drives that have been previously formatted using BIOS functions.

A low-level format program created by drive manufacturers bypasses the system BIOS and passes commands directly to the controller. Therefore, many such programs are designed to work with specific controllers. Having one such program that could be used when working with different controllers is almost impossible to imagine. Many hard drives may be incorrectly identified as defective simply because the wrong program was used.

Low-level formatting of Western Digital HDD and SSDs

Let me make a reservation right away that in this case, low-level formatting means testing the disk surface for bad sectors through reading and writing. As mentioned above, factory low-level formatting of a modern hard drive can only be done by the manufacturer.

Hard and solid state drives can be formatted at a low level using several methods. Let's consider one of them, applicable to PC. Mac computers are not suitable for this example.

To low-level format a hard drive we need:

1. The hard drive, in this case, is from Western Digital (in this example, the Maxtor drive was tested, and the procedure was successful)
2. Data Lifeguard Diagnostics Software for Windows

Before the formatting process, connect the device to the computer. This can be done either through the IDE, SATA, USB or Firefire interface. In this case, low-level formatting will be carried out in the Windows system, without first loading using special boot disks. This is the easiest method for the average PC user.

Once the device is connected:

1. Download Windows Data Lifeguard Diagnostics from http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=113&sid=3&lang=ru

2. After downloading the application, launch it and follow the installation wizard.

If after installation a dialog box appears with a message stating that the program cannot be started, close it and click the OK button. The program must be launched in a different way.

3. A program shortcut will appear on the desktop, double-click on it.

4. Check the box next to I accept this... and click the Next button.

The program will display all connected drives. Despite the fact that in my example, the Maxtor test hard drive was formatted, and it was successful, I recommend that you use this program only for Western Digital drives, to avoid possible problems with the media. If you have a Seagate hard drive, use a similar program from Seagate.

5. Select the disk that needs to be diagnosed and click on the to run tests button. BE SURE to double-check that you have selected exactly the right disk, otherwise you will lose all data on this media, without the possibility of recovering it, since this process is destructive and irreversible.

7. In the next window, select the EXTENDED TEST option and click the Start button.

8. Close all files that are open on the selected hard drive and click the OK button.

9. The testing procedure on a 20 GB hard drive took approximately 10 minutes. At the end of testing, click on the Close button.

10. But that's not all. Now again click on the to run tests button and in the dialog box select the WRITE ZEROS option and click on the Start button. This procedure will overwrite all sectors with zeros.

10. Depending on the condition of the drive, you will receive one or two prompts reminding you that this action will destroy all data currently on the drive. Click the Yes button.

10. Then choose which method you would like to use to write the zeros. The QUICK ERASE option is much faster, but does not completely erase the disk. This is suitable for users who plan to rewrite the disc multiple times. A FULL ERASE erases the disk completely. This takes longer, but ensures that no data on the drive can later be recovered using data recovery methods. This method is designed for people who need to permanently delete data from their drive, such as hackers ;).

Once you have determined which method you would like to use, select the OK button to begin the formatting process. I recommend choosing FULL ERASE.

11. Start of the rewriting process. For example, it took me about 10 minutes to overwrite a 20 GB hard drive.

12. After the process is completed, click again on the to run tests button and in the dialog box, select the VIEW TEST RESULT option and click on the Start button.

13. The window will display information about the hard drive and the tests that have passed. To be honest, the information in this report is very sparse.

14. If the process was successful, the low-level formatted hard drive will not be available in the system. Now it needs to be initialized, partitioned, and formatted at a high level.

14. Open Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Run and enter the command in the window diskmgmt.msc .

15. The Disk Management program will launch and the Initialize Disks window will automatically appear, where the required disk will be selected. Specify the Master Boot Record parameter and click the OK button.

This completes the low-level formatting process.

A similar process can be used for media on hard drives from other manufacturers. For example, Seagate offers a very convenient diagnostic tool for its media.

In conclusion, I will give an example of how the Data Lifeguard Diagnostics program displays a failed drive. As an example, a Fujitsu hard drive was taken. The program has determined that the media is faulty, as indicated by SMART STATUS.

Using EXTENDED TEST, the program showed that bad sectors were found on the disk.

The program tried to fix them, but nothing worked.

There may be two reasons for this: firstly, the hard drive and the diagnostic program are from different manufacturers, so some commands may not be processed correctly, and secondly, this disk cannot be restored, since it has begun to “crumble,” i.e. physical damage appeared on the surface of his discs; it was already on my inspection table before.