-
Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!
Sata Low Level Format
- Thread starter gusdagoos
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2003
- Location
- Appleton, Wisconsin
I don't see how you could do a low level format. These are done at the factory, and as far as I know, you can't do it at home.
Do you mean that you are writing 0s to the drive? If so, it just means you are wiping everything off of it. I don't know what you mean by "is it worse than ide?" because its the same thing as writing 0s on an IDE drive.
Do you mean that you are writing 0s to the drive? If so, it just means you are wiping everything off of it. I don't know what you mean by "is it worse than ide?" because its the same thing as writing 0s on an IDE drive.
Unless you are having serious issues (virus, etc.) with the hard drive, there is no need to write 0's to it - just format with your operating system's format utility. And as t_biggs said, you cannot do a true low level format to modern hard drives.
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/formatUtilities-c.html
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/formatUtilities-c.html
a windows format doesn't erase ANYTHING from the drive. it simply changes the first bit of each file to trick the os into thinking nothing is there. a windows format will not fix problems with a hd.
a low level format goes over the entire drive and erases everything and writes 0's. a low level format can also fix bad sectors and other small hd problems. a low level format should only be used as a last resort. a low level format also will not install any form of file structure where a windows format will.
low level formats are done at the factory but manufacturers include with retail drives a floppy so the user can low level format also if needed. yes you CAN do a true low level format, though 95% of the time its not needed. no offense but you guys need to take a hardware class. this is one of the first things we learned about.
DO NOT, i repeat DO NOT use ANYTHING to low level format a hd except the utility provided by the manufacturer. some companies make low level formatting software and IIRC some mobos provide low level formatting utilities but DO NOT use them unless its a drive you are willing to lose permanently.
if your just trying to clear a drive so you can install an os or use it as a slave drive just use a windows format. if your hd has bad sectors or died then try a low level format and see if it helps.
i checked that link that kct2 provided. its partially right, though from what i've learned in school and what i have experienced the author of that article needs to do some more research before writing a technical paper that people take for facts.
here is a link to western digitals data lifeguard utlity which includes a low level formatting utility for wd drives
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp#diagutils
here is a link to maxtors maxblast software which includes a low level formatter for maxtor drives
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/maxblast3win.htm
a low level format goes over the entire drive and erases everything and writes 0's. a low level format can also fix bad sectors and other small hd problems. a low level format should only be used as a last resort. a low level format also will not install any form of file structure where a windows format will.
low level formats are done at the factory but manufacturers include with retail drives a floppy so the user can low level format also if needed. yes you CAN do a true low level format, though 95% of the time its not needed. no offense but you guys need to take a hardware class. this is one of the first things we learned about.
DO NOT, i repeat DO NOT use ANYTHING to low level format a hd except the utility provided by the manufacturer. some companies make low level formatting software and IIRC some mobos provide low level formatting utilities but DO NOT use them unless its a drive you are willing to lose permanently.
if your just trying to clear a drive so you can install an os or use it as a slave drive just use a windows format. if your hd has bad sectors or died then try a low level format and see if it helps.
i checked that link that kct2 provided. its partially right, though from what i've learned in school and what i have experienced the author of that article needs to do some more research before writing a technical paper that people take for facts.
here is a link to western digitals data lifeguard utlity which includes a low level formatting utility for wd drives
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp#diagutils
here is a link to maxtors maxblast software which includes a low level formatter for maxtor drives
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/maxblast3win.htm
Last edited:
- Thread Starter
- #8
i pressed f4 while booting up the computer and then in the sata utility for my nf7-s rev2 it had it as an option.......my hard drive is a 60 g western digital.....i had no clue what it was doing because im not familiar with sata...i know how to use win xp for reformatting...
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2003
- Location
- Appleton, Wisconsin
Neither WD or Maxtor's utilities even mention the word 'low' much less the phrase "low level format." They are (can) only done at the factory. Writing 0s is just erasing all of the data, not low level formatting. See this link. In a nutshell, Seagate is explaining people often misuse the term LLF for writing 0s. Sorry about being anal about it, but I'm easily agitated by people misusing words.
But anyway, it sounds like you want to get your SATA drive recognized by Windows XP. Is this right? Assuming you have XP installed on a drive thats on IDE, you need to install the drivers from the SATA disk, and reboot. Then, go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management. The bottom portion should show the SATA drive, where you can create parititions. Doing that should be pretty simple, as the Computer Management application is pretty intuitive and easy to understand.
However, be careful in it. There is no "Are you sure?" dialog for deleting parititions. I accidentally deleted one once by going too fast and not paying attention to where I was clicking. I lost 3 gigs of music, and hours of videos.
Also, you said something about cloning the drive. Drive manufacturers do not provide this kind of software. Knoppix can do this (I tried once, couldn't get it to work) and some other applications can. I think Norton Ghost does this. But, I doubt you will be able to boot from the drive without reinstalling Windows. The MBR will be wrong, and you will probably be lacking the SATA driver, unless you installed it before cloning.
But anyway, it sounds like you want to get your SATA drive recognized by Windows XP. Is this right? Assuming you have XP installed on a drive thats on IDE, you need to install the drivers from the SATA disk, and reboot. Then, go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management. The bottom portion should show the SATA drive, where you can create parititions. Doing that should be pretty simple, as the Computer Management application is pretty intuitive and easy to understand.
However, be careful in it. There is no "Are you sure?" dialog for deleting parititions. I accidentally deleted one once by going too fast and not paying attention to where I was clicking. I lost 3 gigs of music, and hours of videos.
Also, you said something about cloning the drive. Drive manufacturers do not provide this kind of software. Knoppix can do this (I tried once, couldn't get it to work) and some other applications can. I think Norton Ghost does this. But, I doubt you will be able to boot from the drive without reinstalling Windows. The MBR will be wrong, and you will probably be lacking the SATA driver, unless you installed it before cloning.
Last edited:
twump said:
True
True, but not for new drives (since IDE)...I'm not basing that on the linked article, but upon years of experience.
No they can't. Where do you see 'Low Level Format' here?
true (except you cannot low level format
)Because you cannot do a low level format there is little chance trying to do one will help. Your best bet if you have bad sectors is to run an extended diagnostic and RMA the drive.
wow now – As someone who has an engineering degree I can say you will quickly learn that everything you learn in college is not absolutely correct, and definitely not applicable to every situation. They teach you theory and how to think/problem solve (but you seem to have missed that. no offense
)Are you trying to install windows from scratch, add a new drive, or clone an existing install onto a new drive? I'd say use the hard drive manufacture's utiltiy to write zeros to the drive if it is new and start over. I don't know exactly what the silicon image RAID bios utility did, but writing zeros with the manufacture's utility will reset the drive to a condition close to how you got it originally.
- Thread Starter
- #13
well i was trying to put a drive on sata so i pressed f4 and went into the raid utility and low level was an option and i didnt know what it was......now i just want to do my computer on an ide but my drive needs to be fixed....
after a quick search on western digital and maxtors site it seems we are both right kct2. on western digitals website they define LLF as being done at the factory only with no ability for the end user to do it.
on maxtors website they have a bunch of articles on LLF'ing their drives using the powmax utility. though all the articles were relating to IDE and scsi drives not SATA
i'm gonna do some more reading on this when i have time tomorrow
on maxtors website they have a bunch of articles on LLF'ing their drives using the powmax utility. though all the articles were relating to IDE and scsi drives not SATA
i'm gonna do some more reading on this when i have time tomorrow
twump said:
SATA drives and regular parallel ata drives work the same, just have a different external interface (which is why PATA->SATA adapters are very simple and inexpensive).
Maxtor uses the term 'Low Level Format', but they are referring to writing zeros to the drive. They are incorrectly using that term (in my opinion). In this document from maxtor they say:
- Thread Starter
- #19
well i got my computer up and running with the other hard drive on an ide.....what should i do with the hard drive i did the low level format on? can i fix it through disk management? also, if i later wanted to put the hard drive im using now on sata...would that be possible?
