Often, if any malfunctions occur in the hard drive, you can lose all the information on it. Low-level disk formatting may be the best solution for saving important data.
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.
Having carried out this process, it is possible to correct program errors and remove virus software from the PC. Also, formatting is useful when selling a PC, so that the future owner cannot use the information stored on the computer.
How to do low-level formatting
There is a list of programs that are capable of performing 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 consider programs that are completely free and can easily cope with the necessary procedure.
Method 1: HDDLLFT
This application is suitable for any hard drive, the only condition for the correct operation of the program is the presence of the installed Windows OS.
Method 2: SeaTools DOS
The main difference between this utility and its counterparts is the ability to create an image of it on any third-party drive. This is an important detail that will be very useful for users whose system functionality works with errors.
Method 3: Windows Data Lifeguard Diagnostics
Thanks to this application, you can do low-level formatting of WD hard drives.
As you can see, the low-level formatting procedure is fairly straightforward. Almost all well-known programs work on a similar principle, and mastering them will not present any problems. The main thing to remember is that universal programs do not necessarily turn out to be worse than the proposed utilities of a particular manufacturer.
Good day, glad to see you on my website! Today, a rather interesting topic that is relevant and you may need in the future when using a hard disk is low-level formatting. For a low-level hard disk format, we will use a special program.
Why do you need low-level hard disk formatting
So, what is low-level hard disk formatting, and why is it needed:
- Deleting all information beyond recovery. Attention, all previously deleted files from the hard drive can be recovered with a high probability, even after normal formatting, you can recover photos and other personal documents. Therefore, if you want to sell a hard drive, I recommend doing a low-level formatting. What would completely remove confidential information beyond recovery.
- Markup broken sectors to an unused section. If your hard drive is cracking, not immediately detected, and is simply buggy, then a low-level format can help you. It will mark bad sectors and they will not be used in the system in the future.
- Prevention when buying a hard drive, if you recently bought a hard drive, then I recommend that you also make a low-level format.
So we figured out the advantages of this formatting method, and we will soon find out how to do it correctly, and which program will help us! It doesn't matter what brand of hard drive: Seagate, WD, Samsung or any other - low-level formatting works equally well.
How to know if it's worth doing it
To check and diagnose broken sectors, use the Victoria program. With it, you can find out about the current state of the hard drive. You can download it.
Attention! If you have one HDD and a system on it, then this operation is dangerous! Until the failure of the HDD. In details here.
Program for correct low-level hard disk formatting
We will use the program HDD Low Level Format Tool, the name speaks for itself - this program was developed only for low-level formatting of a hard disk under Windows, you can download it below:
The program does not require installation, after its launch it is ready to work, the interface language is in English, but it is very easy to use it. I wrote detailed instructions with pictures, so you will definitely figure it out.
1. Run the program and select the hard drive that you want to format, click "Continue \u003e\u003e\u003e"
2. Go to the second tab "LOW - LEVEL FORMAT", do not forget to check the box, and click "FORMAT THIS DEVICE"
3. A warning appears that all information on the disk will be lost, we agree to the formation.
Attention do not touch the hard drive during formatting, wait until the end of the operation.
The process of low-level formatting consists in the fact that sectors and tracks are applied to the surface of the hard disk. Thus, servo marks are applied to the magnetic surface, which are used to position the disk heads as service information. This process is carried out on special equipment, a servo-writer.
At home, it is almost impossible to carry out a full low-level formatting of a hard disk. Therefore, it is generally accepted that such a specific event is performed once at the manufacturing plant. But in order to imitate this process at home, there are many different ways, for example, to carry out an operation from under DOS, using an installation flash drive, or to process it with a special program.
But before looking for the most acceptable way that home low-level formatting can do, you need to determine the main reasons for doing it:
- Prevention of leakage of important or secret information. This process completely destroys all information contained on the device, while the usual process only deletes data from the first sector.
- Blocking sectors of the hard drive that were prone to damage. Shocks, mechanical or thermal effects can cause damage. Information on damaged areas is not saved.
Working with an auxiliary program
In order to make such an operation easier, you can download a program called HDD LOW LEVEL FORMAT TOOL. This utility is used not only for formatting hard drives. It also works with various interfaces and you can delete information from a flash drive with it. This program works according to the following scheme:
- You need to run the program and check Continue for free in the window that appears.
- After that, another window will appear in which there will be a list with all devices.
- When the drive is selected, the window will change and information will appear in it. For low-level formatting, select FORMAT THIS.
- Now the utility will start the process, but in front of it it will display a message that will remind the user about the irrecoverability of the data. You must agree to continue.
- After low-level formatting, you need to do the usual (fast) through "My Computer" and select the type of file system there.
Formatting with the popular Victoria utility
In addition to a narrow specification program, in order to carry out low-level formatting, you can use a utility with a wider range of actions. Victoria is one such utility. Victoria's capabilities are quite extensive and one of the capabilities is low-level formatting.
You can work with Victoria in several ways, namely, download from disk, floppy disk, flash drive, or download and install directly on your computer's hard drive. In order to use the first three methods, you need to create a bootable package of files on the drives, which runs on a computer under DOS.
For Victoria to work in the existing operating system, you must first download the program from the official website. To install the program on the device, run the victoria43.exe file as administrator.
Several tabs will appear in the window that opens, in which the program analyzes all available hard drives. But in order to permanently delete the data with the victoria program, you first need to identify the areas on the hard drive that have been damaged. The Test tab can help with this. Scanning will reveal bad sectors, and to get rid of them, you need to run a rescan, but set the Write mode. In the Victoria utility, this mode is responsible for the permanent deletion (wiping) of information.
Deleting data via DOS
But in order to format the hard drive at a low level, an external program with complex control does not have to be used. This can also be done through DOS - using the installation disk with the operating system.
- If you have a bootable disk with Windows XP available, first run its installation. During the installation process, all hard drives and their partitions will be offered that can be formatted in DOS mode.
- When installing the system from a bootable disk with Vista OS, wait until the system prompts you to select a disk or its partition. Then you need to call the "Disk settings" window.
- If there is no need to change the file system and other hdd settings, you can click the "Format" button.
When formatting in DOS mode is finished, the system will notify the user and the computer will need to restart.
Low-level formatting must be approached responsibly so as not to harm the system. In this case, it does not matter how exactly the operation will be carried out via DOS, from a flash drive or using a program. In addition, it should be remembered that such a process completely and irrevocably deletes all the information accumulated on the hard drive, so before starting it is worth saving the disk image for quick recovery.
Low-level hard disk (HDD) formatting is applicable to transmission interfaces, including SATA, as well as IDE, which operate at a low access level.
However, it is necessary to immediately make a reservation: when they talk about formatting at a low access level, they mean the "new" technological process of "zeroing" the hard drive. In this case, data from the surface of the device is erased and replaced with zeros using special software. Previously, low-level formatting meant a completely different process.
Why is Disk Cleanup needed?
Most often, a full wipe of a SATA or ATA (IDE) hard drive is performed for the following reasons:
Actually, the question arises: why resort to such reformatting methods, what are the reasons for the disk processing at a low access level?
- getting rid of malicious programs, viruses that cannot be eradicated by other, less effective methods: anti-virus protection, scanning and destruction of corrupted data.
- for a "cleaner" reinstallation of the system, high-quality installation of applications on a fresh OS Windows, Mac OS or Linux.
- low-level formatting can be used to securely erase private, personal data that can be easily recovered using appropriate resuscitation applications
- one of the most justified reasons - "cure", prevention of bad sectors of the hard disk, removal of bad blocks, bad cylinders, which significantly impair HDD performance
- if you are using a new storage device that will not work without first formatting
- if the boot sector was damaged: that is, the disk does not function as a boot device, but it is available to store information
- when reading errors occur during low-level file operations performed on the HDD
- for prophylaxis, diagnostics of a hard disk, bringing its structure, surface to the proper condition, suitable for correct reading and writing of information
- when reviving the hard drive, this is the most effective way possible
The design of the hard disk allows the use of unused "spare" sectors to replace bad (bad) blocks. However, in practice, the HDD may simply not use this backup feature and continues to write, read information to and from bad sectors.
Therefore, a low-level hard disk formatting allows you to instruct it to discard the bad cylinders, replacing them with spare ones. This, in general, significantly improves the performance of the drive, especially when talking about SATA and IDE storage devices that have been in use for a long time, while standard formatting methods do not lead to the desired results of an acceptable level.
Which program to format the disk at a low level?
Note... If you decide on this procedure, I advise you to first make a backup - that is, a backup copy of important files and user data, programs - because after formatting, the data will be destroyed irrevocably.
A small free program will help you HDD Low Level Format Toolwhich supports a huge list of SATA- and IDE- hard drives (with rare exceptions).
Of course, there are also regular tools. For example, some BIOS's have a low-level formatting option for the hard drive. However, the disadvantage of this method is the low quality and even inadequacy of such methods. Some HDD manufacturers provide their own tools that address the hard drive at a low level, but this is a very narrow niche ... Therefore, it is relatively more reliable to use HDD Low Level Format by downloading the program through my catalog.
Using the SeaTools for DOS Utility to Format
I present to you an excellent low-level formatting utility - SeaTools for DOS. You can download it for free from the HDD vendor's website. The functionality of SeaTools includes three methods of HDD formatting, which are separately of interest to both home and professional users. The utility will be useful for eliminating numerous problems associated with bad sectors, bad blocks, sudden structure damage or systematic loss of important information on the disk.
One of the important "chips" of the program is that it really functions at a low (low) level, works from under DOS, with its help it is easy to work in the command line interface. The program works quite quickly - try to scan the disk surface with it, this operation takes only a couple of minutes.
After scanning and diagnosing problems, you can proceed to the actual hard low-level formatting of the disk by choosing the required method for deleting information.
