low level format= last resort?

[ArTiFaX]

hey guys, some of you may have seen my post about my screwed up hard drive, that i can't get back to 80 gb no matter what i do. if not, its the post with like 3 pages, anyway, I was wondering if a low level format could screw up my warranty at all? I still have a 1 year warranty on the drive, so I can send it back, but i don't want to mess with it and screw up my warranty with the low level format if thats the case? thanx

[Osirus]

it wont mess up your warranty at all, low level format is generally used when you sell the drive to someone, you want to make sure its completely blank.

A low level format just writes all 0's to the drive.

[JTanczos]

Ok I did some looking for ya and it appears that your drive is a maxtor brand. I cant find it on the website but when I do a search for your drive it always comes up as "Cicero Maxtor"

Anyway here is info from maxtor.com


Download and run PowerMax (http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/maxtor/menuitem.3c67e325e0a6b1f6294198b091346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Support/Software%20Downloads/ATA%20Hard%20Drives&downloadID=22). PowerMax is a comprehensive and easy to use diagnostic utility that contains the Low Level Format optional routine that can be used to fix bad sectors or bad clusters on the hard drive. The Low Level Format option fixes bad clusters or bad sectors by writing zeros to the whole drive.

Note: POWERMAX version 4.06 (or newer) supports all Maxtor and Quantum® ATA and SATA drives.

CAUTION: The Low Level Format option will cause all DATA including partitions, folders, directories, files, file tables, dynamic drive overlays and boot record information to be permanently erased and lost! - Please backup your drive before running this utility.

High capacity hard drives take longer to complete. Allow sufficient time to complete the procedure. Several hours to overnight may be needed.

Perform this "low-level-format" only if all other POWERMAX tests have passed (or by direction of Maxtor Technical Support) and the hard drive is still not performing correctly.

If it doesnt work and you still get 30-40gig and its still under warrenty then RMA it.

JT

[ArTiFaX]

thanx alot JT! I bought a new hard drive yesterday anyhow. Although, i would still like to get this drive working again. So i will give it a shot. thanx